SpaceX waited for the right weather conditions and sent three satellites into space using a Falcon Heavy. This is only the sixth mission in the history of Elon Musk’s big rocket.
Over the weekend, we wrote that SpaceX had postponed the launch of the mission due to dense fog. The Falcon Heavy was launched on May 1 at 03:26 (EET). The rocket launched three satellites into space for delivery to a remote geostationary orbit.
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/EQMJRunDXH
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 1, 2023
The main payload is the ViaSat-3 Americas telecommunications satellite. It weighs almost 6.5 tons. Falcon Heavy also sent the Arcturus satellite from Astranis Space Technologies and the GS-1 cubesat from Gravity Space into space. All three vehicles were successfully deployed 4.5 hours after the mission start.
Deployment of Gravity Space’s GS-1 confirmed
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 1, 2023
This mission was the sixth in the history of Falcon Heavy and the second since the beginning of 2023. In January, the rocket launched a military satellite for the US Space Force as part of the classified USSF-67 mission. The Falcon Heavy’s debut mission was to launch the Tesla Roadster electric car into orbit around the Sun in 2018.
T-1 hour until Falcon Heavy's launch of @ViasatInc’s ViaSat-3 Americas mission; weather is 95% favorable for liftoff at 8:26 p.m. ET → https://t.co/ulZth3yuU5 pic.twitter.com/Odwdm4FB6D
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 30, 2023
It is worth noting that none of the boosters will be able to return to Earth as part of today’s mission. Despite the fact that the rocket boosters are designed for reusability, they simply do not have enough fuel left to return.
