SpaceX Rocket Has to Survive Big Test Before Launch This Month

A major test of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy will determine whether the rocket is ready to launch later this month. Elon Musk announced this key milestone on Instagram, saying the static-fire test will happen next week.

Falcon Heavy now vertical on the former Apollo 11 moon rocket launchpad. At 2500 tons of thrust, equal to 18 Boeing 747 aircraft at full throttle, it will be the most powerful rocket in the world by a factor of two. Excitement on launch day guaranteed, one way or another. Hold-down test fire next week. Launch end of the month.

A post shared by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on Jan 4, 2018 at 4:19pm PST

SpaceX is getting ready for its first launch of the new year. The rocket, one of its Falcon 9, will be carrying a supersecret U.S. government payload known as Zuma. Then, all eyes will be on Falcon Heavy, which consists of three Falcon 9 first-stage cores, with a second stage at the top of the middle one. It has 27 engines, which means it is capable of producing a maximum thrust at liftoff of more than five million pounds. All three cores will return to Earth. SpaceX hopes that one day, the Heavy will launch astronauts and hefty payloads to the moon and mars. But it has to perform well at dress rehearsal first, during which engineers will stand the 230-foot-tall rocket upright on the launchpad and make sure it is strapped down tight. They’ll fuel up, and then ignite all 27 engines for a few seconds.