“Falcons have landed”. SpaceX launched its supersized rocket, Falcon Heavy and landed all the three boosters successfully for the first time. Falcon soared into the sky with a satellite called Arabsat, communication sat, which is the rocket’s first customer.
Eight minutes after lift-off, two of the first stage boosters are landed back in Cape Canaveral, side by side. The core booster landed on an ocean’s surface offshore by hundreds of miles, 2 minutes later. The only part of the first mission that went off track. SpaceX typically launches Falcon 9 rockets. The Falcon Heavy, being the most powerful rocket in use today, with 27 engines firing at liftoff is basically 3 rockets strapped together and hence 9 engines per booster.
“Three for three boosters today, What an accomplishment!”, a space flight commentator exclaimed. The Falcon Heavy thundered from Kennedy Space Center, NASA, using the same pad that shot Appollo astronauts into the moon 5 decades ago.
Viewing spots were all packed with tourists and locals eagerly waiting to catch the rare and beautiful return of the twin boosters along with the added sonic booms. Wednesday night’s launch attempt has caused the rod to jam and huge winds in the surroundings.
Elon Musk, SpaceX chief has warned us in advance that things might go wrong since this was a new and upgraded version of Falcon Heavy which might still have a few unproven changes. But fortunately, all went good, more than they could hope for. At the company headquarters in southern California, the employees cheered enthusiastically for the touchdowns.
Musk threw his own convertible into space last year, which is reportedly in a solar orbit around Mars. it happens to still be the same regardless of some less shine and a loss of a few chips here and there.
Until SpaceX came along, boosters were directly thrown into the ocean after use. The company is bent on recycling all rocket parts.