SpaceX Confirms Falcon Heavy Rocket Launch For February 6

By Adam Westlake

It's been just a few days since SpaceX successfully completed a test fire of its new Falcon Heavy rocket, and now CEO Elon Musk has revealed that the official launch will take place in early February. The Falcon Heavy project has been in the works for a number of years now and seen more than few delays. The rocket is essentially made up of three Falcon 9 boosters connected together, and will allow SpaceX to launch much larger payloads than it has before, and to much farther destinations.

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The Falcon Heavy test firing took place on Wednesday at Cape Canaveral, and soon afterward Musk stated that the launch would follow "in a week or so." The CEO took to Twitter this weekend to confirm that the launch was scheduled for February 6th, with the rocket lifting off from Cape Kennedy in Florida, using the historic launchpad 39A — the site of Apollo and Space Shuttle missions.

Musk noted that there would be "easy viewing from the public causeway," a welcome invitation for what's sure to be an interesting launch. As one of the most powerful rockets ever made, the initial Falcon Heavy launch will be a symbolic event, as Musk has previously explained that there's still a high risk the rocket could explode before it makes it into orbit. Because of this, the SpaceX CEO has decided to do something more unique than using a typical test flight dummy payload.

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Instead, the first Falcon Heavy launch will be sending Musk's own original model Tesla Roadster on trajectory to Mars orbit. Not only that, the car's radio will be blasting David Bowie's Space Oddity, and if all goes smoothly, the cherry red Roadster will remain "in deep space for a billion years or so."

While SpaceX has set February 6th as the target day, there's still no definite timetable for the launch yet. Let's just hope there aren't any more delays.

SOURCE Elon Musk

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