(Screenshot / YouTube / SpaceX)
SpaceX has launched the Falcon Heavy for the first time in 3 years as part of the USSF-44 mission for the US Space Force.
Elon Musk's company has put at least two satellites into geostationary orbit.
Like the first time, the side boosters could land after launch, but the central booster did not return to land in a controlled manner.
The Falcon Heavy is SpaceX's two-stage booster, which differs from the Falcon 9 rocket by having a pair of reentrant side boosters based on its first stage design.
The rocket is equipped with 27 Merlin engines and is capable of delivering up to 63.8 tons of payload to low Earth orbit and up to 26.7 tons to geotransfer orbit.
The Falcon Heavy made its first flight in February 2018, when Musk's Tesla Roadster electric car with a dummy inside became the payload.
Two commercial launches followed, the last of which was in 2019.
THE 4TH FLIGHT
On last November 1, SpaceX launched its fourth flight of the Falcon Heavy and its first flight to geostationary orbit under the USSF-44 program.
The launch took place from the LC-39A complex at the Kennedy Space Center.
Such a long break in launches is due to a delay in the preparation of the payload, the launch was originally planned for 2020.
The USSF-44 mission was under contract for the US Space Force with a classified payload.
However, it is known that it has a total mass of about 3.7 tons and consists of at least two spacecraft, one of which is the TETRA-1 military microsatellite.
This mission used new side boosters, which then landed on land, as well as a central unit, which this time was not subject to return.
The nose fairing flaps were successfully fished out of the ocean by a search vessel.
A few hours after the launch, the satellites separated from the second stage, and completed a successful flight.
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