Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Oct. 25-SpaceX connected the three boosters that make up the first stage of the heavy Falcon rocket on Sunday, local time, in preparation for the launch of the rocket from launch Tower 39A of the Kennedy Space Center at NASA.

It is reported that the heavy Falcon rocket was last launched in 2019. This launch will also be the second time that SpaceX has launched a heavy Falcon rocket in more than three years.

Source: SpaceX Twitter account SpaceX posted a photo on social media platform Twitter on Sunday showing three horizontal boosters with 27 Merlin engines clearly visible. The SpaceX caption said: "the heavy Falcon rocket in the hangar of the 39A launch center."

All three boosters are modified Falcon 9 rocket first-stage booster. The heavy Falcon rocket ties three first-stage boosters together and places a second-stage booster carrying a payload on top of the middle booster.

The 27 Merlin engines generate a total of about 5 million pounds (2267 tons) of thrust when ignited. "the thrust of the heavy Falcon rocket is twice that of the most powerful rocket in use in the world," SpaceX said. "the heavy Falcon rocket can put nearly 64 tons of payload into orbit and its carrying capacity is more than twice that of the ULA Delta IV heavy launch vehicle."

The launch of the heavy Falcon rocket is planned to send two satellites of the US space force to geosynchronous orbit. The launch date has not yet been announced, but it is reported that it will not be earlier than October 31.

The first-stage booster of the heavy Falcon rocket is as reusable as the Falcon 9 rocket. However, only two of the three first-level boosters in this launch will return to Earth safely, and the first-level booster in the middle will fall into the sea after the launch is completed.

The launch will be the first time SpaceX has launched a heavy Falcon rocket since June 2019, and it will also be the fourth launch of a heavy Falcon rocket. When the rocket was first launched in February 2018, it put a Tesla sports car belonging to SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk into orbit around the sun, with a dummy named Starman in a spacesuit.

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