SpaceX Test Fires the Center Booster of the Falcon Heavy
SpaceX is gearing up for its next big step forward in spaceflight: launching the Falcon Heavy. The heavy-lift launch vehicle will use three Falcon 9 cores bolted together-two first stages that have already been launched, landed and recovered, as well as a shiny new core stage that will sit in the center of the two used boosters. The Hawthorne, CA-based company is aiming to launch the Falcon Heavy before the year is out, and yes, SpaceX will attempt to land all three first stages of the Falcon Heavy.
Last week, Elon Musk's space startup test fired the center core of the new rocket at their facility in McGregor, TX. SpaceX tweeted out a video of the test fire today.
First static fire test of a Falcon Heavy center core completed at our McGregor, TX rocket development facility last week. pic.twitter.com/tHUHc1QiKG
- SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 9, 2017
The Falcon Heavy will be similar to the Delta IV Heavy operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA), which also uses three cores in the first stage and is currently the largest payload capacity rocket flown. However, on paper, the Falcon Heavy will be able to lift more than twice as much as the Delta IV Heavy to low-Earth orbit, 140,660 pounds for the Falcon Heavy compared to 62,540 pounds for the Delta IV Heavy.
The real improvement over the Delta IV Heavy, though, should be in the ability to land and relaunch all three of the Falcon Heavy's first stage cores. The only question is, when will it fly?
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