SpaceX Falcon heftiest rocket launched with payload military, 24 scientific research satellites

X launched its heftiest rocket with 24 research satellites Tuesday, a middle-of--night rideshare featuring a deep atomic clock, solar sail, a clean and green rocket fuel testbed, and even human ashes. It was third flight of a Falcon Heavy rocket, but first ordered by military. Defense Department mission, dubbed STP-2 for Test Program, is expected to provide data to certify Falcon Heavy — and reused boosters — for future national security launches. It marked military’s first ride on a recycled rocket.

Both side boosters landed back at Cape Canaveral several minutes after liftoff, just as y did after launching in April. But new core booster missed an ocean platform, t unexpected for this especially difficult mission, X ted. NASA signed up for a spot on rocket, along with National Oceanic and Atmospheric ministration, Air Force Research Laboratory, Planetary Society and Celestis Inc., which offers memorial flights into .

An astronaut who flew on NASA’s first station back in 1970s, Skylab’s Bill Pogue, h a bit of his ashes on board, along with more than 150 or deceased people. Pogue died in 2014. X said mission was one of its most challenging launches. satellites needed to be placed in three different orbits, requiring multiple upper-st engine firings. It was going to take several hours to release m all.

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Deep Atomic Clock by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a techlogy demo aimed at self-flying craft. Barely size of a toaster oven, clock is meant to help craft navigate by mselves when far from Earth. NASA also was testing a clean and green alternative to toxic rocket and satellite fuel. Planetary Society’s LightSail crowd-funded craft will attempt to become first orbiting craft to be propelled solely by sunlight. It’s society’s third crack at solar sailing: first was lost in a Russian rocket failure in 2005, while second h a successful test flight in 2015.

“Hey @elonmusk et al, thanks for ride!,” tweeted Bill Nye, society’s chief executive officer.

Air Force Research Laboratory h wear experiments aboard, while AA h six small atmospheric experimental satellites for wear forecasting. Falcon Heavy is most powerful rocket in use today. Each first-st booster has nine engines, for a total of 27 firing simultaneously at liftoff from NASA’s Kennedy Center. first Falcon Heavy launch was in February 2018. That test flight put X founder Musk’s red Tesla convertible into an orbit stretching past Mars.

(Except heline, changes were me to original story by Republic World staff)