SpaceX plans to conduct the first flight test of its Falcon Heavy rocket on Feb. 6, company founder Elon Musk tweeted Jan. 27.
The rocket, which SpaceX has been developing for years to carry large payloads, is poised to lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
SpaceX conducted a static fire test of the Falcon Heavy’s engines on Jan. 24, paving the way for the first flight (Defense Daily, Jan. 24). Musk has described the engine firing as “good.”
The Falcon Heavy, whose first stage consists of three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores, is intended to allow SpaceX to compete against larger rockets, especially the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 500 series and ULA’s Delta IV Heavy.
ULA is a joint venture of Boeing [BA] and Lockheed Martin [LMT].