SpaceX gears up for Falcon Heavy’s first flight since 2019 with a static fire test

SpaceX is on observe to launch the Falcon Heavy for the primary time in three years after it efficiently put the heavy-lift launch car via a static hearth check. The non-public area company has announced the check’s profitable completion on Twitter, together with a photograph of the rocket because it breathes out hearth and smoke whereas perched at NASA Kennedy Area Heart’s launch pad 39A. Throughout a static hearth check, a rocket’s engines are ignited to test their efficiency whereas remaining on the bottom. 

The corporate carried out this specific check in preparation for USSF-44, the categorised mission SpaceX is flying for the US Area Pressure. USSF-44 can have two payloads, each satellites, that can be deployed into geostationary orbit. It was initially scheduled for liftoff on October thirty first, however SpaceX is at the moment focusing on a November 1st launch. The corporate hasn’t revealed a launch time inside the day but, however in keeping with Area and Subsequent Spaceflight, it’ll occur round 9:40AM ET.

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket first took flight in 2018, carrying a cherry pink Tesla Roadster owned by firm chief Elon Musk with a dummy dubbed “Starman” within the driver’s seat. The final time it flew was in June 2019, and SpaceX described it on the time as one of many “most difficult” launches in its historical past — touchdown the middle core proved too difficult that it missed the drone ship ready for it by a couple of ft. Since then, it has been licensed to hold the Area Pressure’s secret spy satellites to orbit, and the primary of these missions might happen in a couple of days’ time.