JAKARTA – Falcon Heavy milik SpaceX took off again on Tuesday (11/1/2022), for the first time since mid-2019. The most powerful rocket is back on a top secret mission for the US Space Force.
The Falcon Heavy mission dubbed USSF-44 launched from Pad 39-A at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center at 9:43 am ET (local time) carrying a military micro-satellite prototype called TETRA.
After a few minutes of take-off, the rocket’s side thrusters returned for a successful and near-simultaneous landing, not far from the launch pad. The core booster was discharged into the ocean after sending a secret payload into orbit.
“This is the first launch and landing of the Falcon Heavy’s side booster, which will be prepared for trickle in future US Space Force missions later this year,” SpaceX said.
SpaceX’s recent launch is noteworthy as the fourth flight of a Falcon Heavy rocket, which last flew in June 2019 on a mission with the US Air Force serving as the rocket reliability for homeland security-related missions.
The most popular rocket from Elon Musk’s company so far is the Falcon 9, which has flown hundreds of times on its mission to send various types of payloads into space. It consists of three cores on the Falcon 9 engine, with an updated core.
Aside from that, the Falcon Heavy is more powerful and capable of producing five million pounds of takeoff thrust.
Although the Falcon Heavy can carry a heavier payload than the Falcon 9, the powerful rocket is not usable by many users.
