On Wednesday, Jan. 24th, 2018 SpaceX completed the first static fire test of the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle. When Falcon Heavy lifts off, it will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two.
Its first stage is composed of three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust, equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft. Only the Saturn V moon rocket, last flown in 1973, delivered more payload to orbit. Falcon Heavy was designed from the outset to carry humans into space and restores the possibility of flying missions with crew to the Moon or Mars.
