Last Updated Feb 6, 2018 12:11 PM EST
After a successful engine test last month, the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket is ready for launch today. The three-hour launch window opens at 1:30 p.m. EST, but countdown clocks have been reset for 2:50 p.m. EST due to wind conditions.
Made up of three side-by-side Falcon 9 first stages and an upper stage carrying a cherry red Tesla Roadster, the Falcon Heavy will generate 4.7 million pounds of thrust at launch, more powerful than any other rocket in current use. The rocket will lift off from Kennedy Space Center’s historic launch pad 39A.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk put the odds of a successful flight at somewhere between 50 percent and 70 percent.
“I’m looking forward to it. It’s either going to be an exciting success or an exciting failure. One big boom! I’d say tune in, it’s going to be worth your time,” Musk told CBS News.
How to watch the SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch
- What: SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launch
- Date: Today, February 6, 2018
- Time: 2:50 p.m. EST
- Where: Kennedy Space Center, launch pad 39A
- Watch Live: CBSN will carry the launch live in the video player, above
SpaceX Falcon Heavy payload
While this is just a test launch, the Falcon Heavy will be carrying Elon Musk’s midnight cherry Tesla Roadster, which will be playing David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” and carrying a dummy pilot dubbed “Starman.”
“I love the thought of a car drifting apparently endlessly through space and perhaps being discovered by an alien race millions of years in the future,” Musk tweeted late last year.
Future versions of the Falcon Heavy could someday be used to launch missions to the moon or Mars.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s cherry red Tesla Roadster sports car, with a space-suited dummy pilot “Starman,” will serve as a test payload for the Falcon Heavy in its maiden flight.
SpaceX
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