Facts about SpaceX Falcon Heavy
- 08
During its third operational flight in April 2019, Falcon Heavy deployed the classified Space Force payload AFSPC-44 to a record-breaking altitude above geosynchronous orbit.
- 07
At 230 feet tall, the Falcon Heavy stands 10 feet shorter than the Saturn V but achieves comparable payload capacity through its innovative three-core design.
- 06
Falcon Heavy's side boosters can be reflown within weeks, with SpaceX achieving a rapid turnaround of just 62 days between launches of the same booster pair in 2019.
- 05
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy produces 5.13 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, surpassing the Saturn V's 7.5 million pounds but requiring only three cores versus the Saturn V's single stack design.
- 04
Each Falcon Heavy core contains 9 Merlin engines, resulting in 27 engines firing simultaneously at liftoff for approximately 5 million pounds of total thrust.
- 03
All three Falcon Heavy boosters successfully landed and were recovered during the December 2018 Arabsat-6A mission, marking the first time SpaceX reflew a previously launched center core.
- 02
The Falcon Heavy can lift 140,000 pounds to low Earth orbit, making it the most powerful operational rocket since the Saturn V retired in 1973.
- 01
In February 2018, the Falcon Heavy's maiden flight launched Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster toward Mars orbit with a dummy driver named Starman.