SpaceX has announced that the first test flight of the Falcon Heavy is scheduled for February 6 from the Kennedy Space Center.
Just a few days after the successful static-fire test of the behemoth rocket, Elon Musk tweeted that the aim was to depart from Apollo launchpad 39A next week.
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex has called the event “one of the most anticipated launches in recent history” and it appears to be true, since tickets to watch from within a few miles of the launch, priced at $195 each, have already sold out.
However, Musk also mentioned that there would be “easy viewing from the public causeway” and given that the sound of the static-fire test was judged to be immense, it seems like it will be a launch that’s hard to miss in the surrounding area.
The Falcon Heavy is the most powerful operational rocket in the world and aims to be the engine of choice to return humans to the Moon and potentially get us all the way to Mars (although the as-yet-unbuilt BFR is also being teed up as the Martian option).
The rocket is basically three Falcon 9 boosters strapped together, which also makes it reusable, allowing SpaceX to launch and land and potentially save billions on space exploration. The cost of each Falcon Heavy flight is roughly $90 million, already much cheaper than the last super heavy rocket in use the Delta IV, which blasted off at a price tag of around $400 million. But that cost would balloon if the company had to build a new rocket each time.
With the Falcon Heavy, SpaceX hopes to reclaim all three of the first-stage rocket cores, roughly equivalent to three simultaneous Falcon 9 landings. For this first test flight, two of the cores will be aiming for a dry-land touchdown, while one lands on a SpaceX drone ship. If it’s successful, it will be a mind-boggling feat of skill and engineering.
The flight itself aims to go all the way to Mars, taking a payload that consists of Elon Musk’s red Tesla Roadster. The car is set to be playing David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” on repeat as it blasts off for the Red Planet.
Testing something as complex and powerful as a rocket is risky business and Musk himself has admitted that there’s a good chance that the vehicle never makes it to orbit. Regardless, hopes are high that the Falcon Heavy will make its self-imposed deadline of a trip to the Moon by the end of the year.
