Successful Launch of SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket Carrying Large Satellite
The world’s largest commercial communications satellite was successfully launched into orbit high above Earth by SpaceX’s most powerful operational rocket.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp.’s three-body Falcon Heavy took off with a massive payload at 11:04 p.m. local time on Friday from the company’s launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The satellite was put into use about three and a half hours after liftoff.
Weighing more than nine tons and roughly the size of a bus, the Jupiter 3 satellite provides wireless Internet access in North and South America. It is operated by Hughes Network Systems, a satellite communications company owned by EchoStar Corp.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX decided not to return the center core of its Falcon Heavy rocket to ensure it has enough fuel to carry the large cargo to its intended orbit. However, the vehicle’s two side boosters successfully landed on SpaceX’s dual landing pad in Florida. The pair had also flown on two previous Falcon Heavy flights.
Friday’s liftoff will be the third for SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket in 2023 and the company’s 51st orbit this year. Just a day earlier, SpaceX launched another Falcon 9 rocket from the company’s second launch pad in Florida, carrying a new batch of Starlink internet satellites.
