After being delayed for nearly 5 years, SpaceX finally succeded in launching their most powerful rocket yet - the Falcon Heavy. In an expandable configuration (the version that doesn't include landing and reusing the first stage and the boosters) it can deliever over 60 tons to low Earth orbit, nearly half the payload of Saturn V. But that version costs 150 million dollars, which is 10-15% of the cost of a single S5 launch.
It lifted off on the 6th of February from the historic LC-39A, the launchpad that previously hosted most of Apollo launches and a number of Space Shuttle missions, including the first and the last one. Both boosters have been previously flown and returned to their landing sites, LZ-1 and 2. Meanwhile, the center core attempted a 3-engine landing and crashed near the droneship due to an ignition failure. Second stage restarted for the last time about 6 hours after launch and delievered the Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster into a heliocentric orbit, stretching out all the way to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
But why? Why launch a car into space? Well, test launches usually fly with mass simulators - useless payloads like a block of concrete or metal, but sending a roadster up increased the interest into the flight. And they succeded - more than 2 million people saw it live, the second largest live event on Youtube and the video currently has more than 20 million views. Furthermore, the subscriber count on the SpaceX's YT channel nearly doubled in the weeks after the launch.
It lifted off on the 6th of February from the historic LC-39A, the launchpad that previously hosted most of Apollo launches and a number of Space Shuttle missions, including the first and the last one. Both boosters have been previously flown and returned to their landing sites, LZ-1 and 2. Meanwhile, the center core attempted a 3-engine landing and crashed near the droneship due to an ignition failure. Second stage restarted for the last time about 6 hours after launch and delievered the Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster into a heliocentric orbit, stretching out all the way to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
But why? Why launch a car into space? Well, test launches usually fly with mass simulators - useless payloads like a block of concrete or metal, but sending a roadster up increased the interest into the flight. And they succeded - more than 2 million people saw it live, the second largest live event on Youtube and the video currently has more than 20 million views. Furthermore, the subscriber count on the SpaceX's YT channel nearly doubled in the weeks after the launch.
The second flight was originally scheduled to be the Arabsat 6A satellite delievered to GTO. However, according to some sources the satellite was delayed. Second flight is now Air Force's STP-2, currently scheduled for Q3 2018.