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However, part of the flight required the second stage to re-ignite three times to radically alter the vehicle\u2019s orbit for the various payload deployments.<\/p>\n<\/p>\nAfter years of payload preparation, SpaceX\u2019s Falcon Heavy rocket launched one of the company\u2019s most-challenging missions to date. Space Test Program 2 (STP-2), a U.S. Air Force contracted flight with 24 government and civilian testbed payloads, launch within at 4-hour launch window from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.<\/p>\n
The launch window opened at 23:30 EDT on Monday, 24 June (03:30 UTC on Tuesday 25 June), although the T-0 moved to 02:30 EDT \u2013 3 hours into the window. After liftoff, the Falcon Heavy\u2019s second stage spent roughly 3.5 hours performing 20 deployments of 24 satellites into various orbits and various orbital inclinations.<\/p>\n
Falcon Heavy: A unique mission<\/b><\/p>\n
STP-2 is a one-of-a-kind mission for SpaceX and the Falcon Heavy rocket. <\/p>\n
The triple-booster rocket \u2013 the world\u2019s most powerful currently-operational rocket \u2013 blasted off under 5.1 million lbf of thrust from Pad 39A in Florida and flew due east out over the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n
Launching a remarkably lightweight payload of just 3,700 kg, the Falcon Heavy \u2013 at a glance \u2013 seemed wildly overpowered for launching a mission of this class into orbit.<\/p>\n
However, part of the flight required the second stage to re-ignite three times to radically alter the vehicle\u2019s orbit for the various payload deployments.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Space Shuttle (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n This required the second stage to enter orbit with a healthy amount of propellant still inside its tanks \u2013 a requirement that therefore drives the need to launch the mission on the Falcon Heavy instead of a regular Falcon 9 because the Falcon Heavy can provide the extra margin to the second stage whereas the regular Falcon 9 \u2013 even in its expendable configuration \u2013 could not.<\/p>\n Even with the Falcon Heavy\u2019s performance, the center booster \u2013 given final mission and performance margin calculations and needs \u2013 had to burn so much of its fuel during first stage flight that it was incapable of performing a Boostback burn and therefore free-flew itself 1,200 km downrange from the launch pad before reigniting its engines for the Entry and Landing Burns.<\/p>\n This was to mark the farthest-ever downrange landing of a SpaceX rocket, with Of Course I Still Love You<\/i> positioned ~1,245 km east of the launch pad. However, the booster \u2013 not unsurprisingly \u2013 missed the drone ship.<\/p>\n