The
craft blasted off to cheers from onlookers at 2:30 a.m. (0630
GMT) after a three-hour delay from the original launch time late
Monday.
The boosters separated safely as the craft began its six-hour
mission to deploy the satellites.
The two-side booster rockets returned safely to Earth, landing
on adjacent Air Force landing pads, but the rocket's center
booster missed its mark, crashing in the Atlantic ocean.
Musk, who predicted trouble with landing the center booster on
SpaceX's drone ship in the Atlantic, said on Twitter early
Tuesday, "It was a long shot."
The mission, dubbed Space Test Program 2 (STP-2), is the third
for the Falcon Heavy rocket, which SpaceX describes as the most
powerful launch system in the world.
It was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Defense, the key
contractor for commercial space companies such as SpaceX.
The company is putting satellites into orbit for agencies
including NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), defense department laboratories,
universities and a non-profit organization, SpaceX said.
The mission is one of the most challenging in SpaceX history,
with four separate upper-stage engine burns and three separate
orbits to deploy satellites, the company said on its website.
SOLAR SAIL
The payloads on the satellites Falcon Heavy is putting into
orbit include an atomic clock NASA is testing for space
navigation, another testing new telescope technologies, and a
solar sail project part-funded by the Planetary Society, a
non-profit organization headed by Bill Nye, "The Science Guy" on
television presentations.
The LightSail is a crowdfunded project that aims to become the
first spacecraft in earth orbit propelled solely by sunlight,
the society, which has championed solar propulsion for decades,
says on its website.
Falcon Heavy is the most powerful operational rocket in the
world "by a factor of two," SpaceX says on its website. It has
the ability to lift into orbit nearly 64 metric tons (141,000
pounds) - more than a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew,
luggage and fuel.
Only the Saturn V moon rocket, last flown in 1973 from the same
launch pad, delivered more payload to orbit, it says.
(Reporting by Bill Tarrant and Rich McKay; additional reporting
by Joey Roulette; Editing by Mark Potter and Louise Heavens)
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