SpaceX launched its mega Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time in more than three years, hoisting satellites for the military and then nailing side-by-side booster landings back near the pad.
The rocket system, consisting of three Falcon 9 boosters strapped side-by-side, took off from a SpaceX launch pad, with two satellites from the Space Force and a group of smaller satellites bound for orbit.
The Space Force did not provide details of its satellites and requested that SpaceX end its launch live stream early without showing their deployment.
The rocket system, representing three Falcon 9 boosters strapped side-by-side, lifted off at a SpaceX launch pad.
The rocket’s two side boosters were due to land in synchrony on adjacent concrete slabs along Florida’s east coast roughly eight minutes after liftoff.
The Heavy carried a handful of classified payloads toward geostationary orbit for the U.S. Space Force on a mission called USSF-44.
The mission, the first Falcon Heavy launch since June 2019, had been delayed for years by Space Force, according to SpaceX officials.
The rocket's debut in 2018 sent a red sports car from Elon Musk's other company, Tesla, into space as a test payload.
