SpaceX's Falcon Heavy to launch in early February

IANS  |  Washington 

The first flight of SpaceX's heavy-lift rocket Heavy is now scheduled for early February, the California-based company said.

"Aiming for first flight of Heavy on February 6 from Apollo launchpad 39A at Cape Kennedy," founder tweeted. "Easy viewing from the public causeway."

Heavy completed its static firing test at in Cape Canaveral, on Wednesday after multiple delays, reported on Saturday.

Soon after the test, Musk tweeted that the rocket is ready for launch "in a week or so."

The tech billionaire has said the rocket will carry a red into space, eventually to a Mars orbit, where it should remain "for a billion years or so if it doesn't blow up on ascent."

The Heavy, a reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle, is seen as the world's most powerful rocket since NASA's Saturn V moon rocket in the 1960s.

Its first stage is composed of three 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds (2.3 million kg) of thrust at liftoff, equal to about eighteen 747 aircraft.

Only the Saturn V moon rocket, last flown in 1973, delivered more payload to orbit.

Heavy was designed to carry humans into space and restores the possibility of flying missions with crew to the Moon or Mars, according to

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Sun, January 28 2018. 06:16 IST