SpaceX’s billionaire CEO, Elon Musk, says he’s aiming to launch the first test flight of his company’s Falcon Heavy rocket in November from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
He issued the latest schedule today in a six-word posting to Instagram:
The Falcon Heavy has been in the works for years, and would rank as the world’s most powerful operational rocket. Its 27 Merlin rocket engines are designed to generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, and put 119,000 pounds of payload into orbit.
“Only the Saturn V moon rocket, last flown in 1973, delivered more payload to orbit,” SpaceX says in its specs.
SpaceX intends for the rocket’s three core boosters to be capable of flying themselves back to separate landings after the ascent, setting a new standard for rocket reusability. The Falcon Heavy could conceivably send crewed missions around the moon.
However, Musk isn’t promising that the rocket’s first test launch will be completely successful. “There’s a lot that could go wrong,” he said last week.
“I encourage people to come down to the Cape and see the first Falcon Heavy mission,” Musk said at the International Space Station Research and Development Conference in Washington, D.C. “It’s guaranteed to be exciting. … There’s a real good chance that that vehicle does not make it to orbit. I want to make sure to set expectations accordingly.”
Update for 11 p.m. PT July 27: Musk followed up on the Instagram posting with a Twitter Q&A:
Is the intention to (now or eventually) return all three boosters for reuse?
— Giles Pritchard (@caradocp) July 28, 2017
Side booster rockets return to Cape Canaveral. Center lands on droneship.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 28, 2017
who lands first?
— cardoso (@Cardoso) July 28, 2017
Sides run high thrust, center is lower thrust until sides separate & fly back. Center then throttles up, keeps burning & lands on droneship.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 28, 2017
If we’re lucky
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 28, 2017