Thursday, February 08, 2018

Falcon Heavy Inaugural Test Flight






Falcon Heavy
Inaugural Test Flight

Welcome To the 21st Century!!!


These are amazing times we are living in. Especially from a technological perspective. So you think Elon Musk's introduction of the upcoming Tesla Roadster was impressive!?!! Yesterday, Elon Musk and Space X just completed the most amazing feat as seen in the video below, which shows the SPACE X Falcon Heavy taking off and landing again on earth. You have to watch this video!!!!


If you're not familiar with SPACE X's Falcon Heavy, it is the most powerful rocket on earth, with a twist. The twist is that the rocket are not only reusable, but can land back on earth as seen in the video above where they touchdown at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which is located near the Kennedy Space Center. SPACE X is a privately held company started by Elon Musk, and yesterday they successfully launched their Falcon Heavy rocket on its maiden voyage. The Falcon Heavy is the most powerful booster rocket since NASA's Saturn V.


The Falcon Heavy took off yesterday from the same launch pad that NASA used to launch the Apollo moon missions and space shuttles, which is located in Florida at the Kennedy Space Center. Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin was in attendance and watched the Falcon Heavy launch from the exact same launch pad 39A he flew to the moon from in 1969. The Falcon Heavy took of at 3:35PM EST (2045GMT), which was more than two hours after the scheduled launch time. 



The Falcon Heavy stands 23 stories tall and is powered by three core boosters that utilize Space X's Falcon 9 rockets: each of which has nine engines per booster for a total of 27 engines. These rocket engines fire in unison and produce around 5 million points of thrust (23 Kilonewtons) during liftoff.


The Falcon Heavy maiden voyage was a test and was sent to orbit around the sun, as well as to send Elon Musk's personal original Tesla Roadster to Mars. The Falcon Heavy is capable of carrying a payload of up to around 140,000 pounds (64,000 Kilographs). The next time the Falcon Heavy takes of in three to six months it will be carrying a payload of satellites.


Below is the SPACE X flight plan for the inaugural test flight of the Falcon Heavy.


Perhaps the most interesting feature of the Falcon Heavy maiden voyage was the payload and launch of Elon Musk's personal Tesla Roadster, which is seen below. 



Elon placed a mannequin named "Starman" in his Tesla Roadster as seen below. Starman is an homage to David Bowie's song named "Starman." Starman has his right hand on the steeling, and his left arm is resting on the door.


During the third stage, Elon's cherry red Tesla Roadster was sent into an orbit that would take it past Mars to circle the Sun. The Roadster has three cameras attached to it. Elon Musk published the image below on Twitter and said, "Third burn successful. Exceeded Mars orbit and kept going to the Asteroid Belt."






A post shared by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on



David Bowie (Starman) performing "Life on Mars"...


SPACE X's Falcon Heavy Flight was almost as impressive as this footage of Jumpin' Jive from 75 years ago!!!! Fred Astaire once pointed out that this was the most amazing dancing he had ever witnessed on film...Also, and this is hard to believe but true that the Nicholas Brothers nailed this, unrehearsed on their first take...Enjoy!!!