SpaceX’s triple-booster Falcon Heavy rocket could take flight as early as Saturday from Kennedy Space Center which will bring a double sonic boom shortly after liftoff.
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket uses 27 engines on three boosters to launch payloads into space.
This mission is carrying multiple payloads for the Space Force, including a communication satellite and a handful of experimental payloads.
The USSF 67 mission is carrying the Space Force's second Continuous Broadcast Augmenting SATCOM, or CBAS 2, communications satellite and the Long Duration Propulsive ESPA 3A, or LDPE 3A, rideshare satellite — carrying multiple experimental payloads into orbit.
A few minutes after launch, the two side boosters of the rocket will fly back to Cape Canaveral and land vertically, which will bring double sonic booms to Central Florida. Depending on weather conditions, the booms could be heard across Central Florida.
The launch window opens Saturday at 5:00 p.m. ET and weather so far remains favorable for launch. The 45th Space Wing is forecasting 90% chance of good weather, with liftoff winds the primary concern on launch day.
This will be the 5th flight of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket. It's first flight in 2018 carried SpaceX founder Elon Musk's Tesla electric car into space, along with a mannequin in a SpaceX spacesuit named "Starman." Since then, the rocket has launched a commercial payload and missions for the Department of Defense. The vehicle will also launch NASA missions as early as October 2023.
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