In a thundering roar, SpaceX lit up the Falcon Heavy Engines, yes all 27 of them and showed the world its most powerful rocket is moving forward to launch.
The Falcon Heavy is comprised of 3 Falcon 9 rockets mated together and although the individual rockets have been tested, getting all 3 rocket cores to work together safely and within design specs, has led to some delays as SpaceX worked out any kinks in preparation for this test.
The test no doubt yielded a great deal of information the SpaceX team will use to insure a successful launch. In an encouraging tweet, Elon Musk stated, “Falcon Heavy hold-down firing this morning was good. Generated quite a thunderhead of steam. Launching in a week or so.”
Once Falcon Heavy successfully launches, the rocket boosters will return to Earth. To test the payload capabilities while minimizing risk, Falcon Heavy will be sending Elon Musk’s own Tesla Roadster into space into an orbit around the Sun that will take it as far out as Mars’ orbit.
Image – SpaceX