Elon Musk's SpaceX leaves the world in awe once again. On the 1st of November SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy was launched for its 4th flight carrying a suite of classified U.S. Space Force payloads. Not even 10 minutes after the launch both the side boosters had landed, marking the 150th and 151st recovery for orbital class rockets. The side boosters will take a re-flight later this year on a U.S Space Force Mission.
Two of the Falcon Heavy's three core boosters returned for successful touchdowns at nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The central booster however landed at sea, since it didn't have enough propellant left on it.
According to CNET, on November 1 at 9.43 a.m. ET (7.13 p.m. IST), the Falcon Heavy mission, known as USSF 44, lifted off from pad 39-A at Florida`s Kennedy Space Center with a military micro-satellite prototype named TETRA-1 and a larger, unconfirmed satellite. The mission was originally scheduled for 2020, but it has been delayed due to payload problems
Falcon Heavy is the world's most powerful operational rocket. Falcon Heavy is essentially three Falcon 9 boosters strapped together for three times the thrust. Falcon Heavy took its first flight in February 2018, when Elon Musk launched a red cherry Tesla along with a spacesuited mannequin in the driver seat attached to the rocket. The two onboard boosters landed side-by-side leaving the world stunned.
The second flight was in April 2019. Falcon Heavy took flight for the third time in June 2019 when the rocket boosted a collection of Air Force and civilian satellites into orbit in a mission that won the rocket official Pentagon certification for dedicated national security missions.
Although right now Falcon Heavy is the most powerful operational rocket that may change later this month as NASA's huge Space Launch System booster launches. But SpaceX will get its title back once the gargantuan Super Heavy-Starship launches either late this year or earlier next year. Well, there's havoc at Twitter but SpaceX seems to be doing just fine for our dear Mr Musk!
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