SpaceX on Tuesday launched a Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time since 2019, on a mission for the U.S. Space Force.
The Falcon Heavy launched from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 9:41 a.m. on Tuesday, carrying the USSF-44 mission to a geosynchronous Earth orbit.
A video shared by @I24Ranger shows the rocket rising in the sky just after liftoff, viewed from more than 50 miles away in Winter Garden, just west of Orlando.
The rockets two side boosters were recovered on landing pads off the Florida coast, while the center booster spent its fuel and plunged into the ocean.
According to an October statement from Space Force Space Systems Command, USSF-44 will place multiple satellites into orbit for its Innovation and Prototyping Directorate.
It was the first National Security Space Launch Falcon Heavy, the Space Force said. During a 2019 test, the rocket launched experimental satellites for the Department of Defenses Space Test Program.
The Falcon Heavy, currently the most powerful operational rocket in the world, debuted in 2018 when SpaceX CEO Elon Musk launched his own Tesla Roadster into space, on a journey around the sun.
