Author: Kenneth Chang / Source: New York Times
SpaceX, via Associated Press
It’s the second try for SpaceX’s second Falcon Heavy.
The planned launch of the giant rocket — the most powerful now in operation on Earth — was postponed on Wednesday night because of windy conditions high above the launchpad.
SpaceX will try again Thursday evening.The rocket could blast off as early as 6:35 p.m. Eastern time; the launch window lasts until about 8:31 p.m. SpaceX will stream the launch on its YouTube channel.
The majestic test launch of the Falcon Heavy in February 2018 carried the ambitions of SpaceX and Elon Musk, the company’s founder and CEO, to new heights. It also sent Mr. Musk’s red Tesla Roadster into a long orbit around the sun, sending views homes to Earth of a spacesuit-wearing mannequin called Starman.
The spacecraft’s payload this time is mundane and useful: Arabsat-6A, a Saudi Arabian communications satellite which will relay television, internet and mobile phone signals to the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
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Why is Falcon Heavy different from other SpaceX rockets?
The company’s workhorse is the Falcon 9 rocket, which first launched in 2010. The first stage of the Heavy essentially consists of three Falcon 9 first stages bound together. The second stages of the two rockets are identical.
The additional thrust allows the Heavy to propel 140,000 pounds to low-Earth orbit, nearly three times what the Falcon 9 can lift.
How does this Falcon Heavy differ from the first one?
On the test flight, the two side boosters were older versions reused from earlier flights. (SpaceX’s best innovation to date is landing the booster stage of its rockets and launching it again; traditionally, rockets have been one-use throwaways, with the booster stages dropped into the ocean.)
For this one, the side boosters have never before been used. They are the latest version of the rocket, called “Block Five.” (“Block” is what rocket companies call a major upgrade.) That boosts the thrust and how much the Falcon Heavy can carry.
Will SpaceX land the three boosters?
Yes. The two side boosters are to return to landing pads at Cape Canaveral, not far from the launchpad, just as in the maiden flight.
The center booster, which will go higher and farther, is to set down on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean. That did not quite work as designed on the…
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