The SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launched early Tuesday morning at 2:30 a.m. Eastern time at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
A four-hour launch window was scheduled to open Monday at 11:30 p.m. Eastern time. A couple of hours before that window opened, the launch was pushed back to 2:30 a.m. That’s 11:30 p.m. on the West Coast.
The rocket carried 24 separate spacecraft into orbit, including the Air Force Research Laboratory Demonstration and Science Experiments satellite, the NOAA-sponsored Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate constellation, four NASA experiments, and several CubeSATs that were prepped at Cal Poly.
3-2-1… LIFTOFF! 🚀 @SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket launched at 2:30am ET from @NASAKennedy carrying:
⏱ an atomic clock for space navigation
🛰️ a satellite fueled with non-toxic propellant
☀️ missions to study space weatherTune in: https://t.co/ZuxLDtzW9c pic.twitter.com/LvcE27wTmI
— NASA (@NASA) June 25, 2019
This was the second time the Falcon Heavy’s side boosters have been used. They previously supported the Arabsat-6A mission in April.
After Tuesday’s launch, following booster separation, SpaceX will again attempt to land the two side boosters at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and the rocket’s center core will attempt to land on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
