SpaceX launched the Falcon Heavy rocket today, carrying 24 satellites to the orbit and making a new breakthrough. It was launched at 2:30 EDT from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.
This launch is a landmark in SpaceX activities as the first time the US Air Force has been shipping its equipment with SpaceX and while monitoring the launch mission carefully.
Falcon Heavy shipped two dozen satellites into the orbit. The cargo was including a solar sail, an atomic clock from NASA and the ashes of 152 people. The families of these passed persons sent the ashes of their loved ones. Each of these families paid more than $5,000 in 2018 to ship up to seven grams of their loved one's ash.
The launch was one of the most historic Falcon Heavy launches as it was a sophisticated and unique flight since the satellites should be placed within three separated orbits. These maneuvers required that the booster stage of the second rocket was ignited four times and the final deployment of the cargo was three hours after the launch. Also, according to air force officials, this sophisticated mission required a nightly launch window.
In less than three minutes Boosters separated from the rocket and successfully returned to the Kennedy Space Center.
Two rocket boosters landed at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Base, which is located next to the Kennedy Space Center. Despite this success, SpaceX could not land the Falcon heavy core on the autonomous boat that was farther miles from the Florida coast in the Atlantic Ocean.
The loss of the central rocket core is not unexpected. Representatives of SpaceX repeatedly emphasized that the landing of this boosters would be the most difficult landing that they have ever done.
The next SpaceX rocket is scheduled to be launched on July 21, in which Falcon 9 will ship more cargo to the International Space Station.
