Elon Musk’s SpaceX on Tuesday tested its latest rocket, the Falcon Heavy, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch was took place around 3:45 p.m. Eastern Time.
The Falcon Heavy is now the most powerful operational rocket in the world following liftoff, SpaceX said.
It has the ability to bring into orbit “nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 pounds – a mass greater than a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage and fuel,” SpaceX said.
The rocket’s first stage has three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores; those 27 Merlin engines combined generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust during liftoff, that equal to about 18 747 aircraft.
“Only the Saturn V moon rocket, last flown in 1973, delivered more payload to orbit,” SpaceX said.
What the rocket launch test here:
