{"id":605043,"date":"2026-04-25T05:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T05:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/605043\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T05:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T05:36:18","slug":"spacex-to-use-falcon-heavy-to-launch-viasat-satellite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/605043\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX to use Falcon Heavy to launch VIASAT satellite"},"content":{"rendered":"

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER \u2014\u00a0SpaceX plans to use its Falcon Heavy rocket to launch the ViaSat company\u2019s telecommunications satellite on Monday morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

The rarely seen Falcon Heavy is expected to send up the ViaSat-3 F3 mission from the Kennedy Space Center\u2019s Launch Complex 39A
\nThe Falcon Heavy is made up of three Falcon 9 rocket boosters, with a total of 27 Merlin engines
\nGlobal communications company ViaSat\u2019s broadband ViaSat-3 F3 satellite will be sent to a geostationary orbit<\/p>\n

The rarely seen Falcon Heavy is expected to send up the ViaSat-3 F3 mission from the Kennedy Space Center\u2019s Launch Complex 39A, stated SpaceX<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The last time the Falcon Heavy rocket took off was for NASA\u2019s Europa Clipper mission in October 2024.\u00a0 The clipper spacecraft\u2019s mission is to investigate Jupiter\u2019s moon Europa, where there might be a chance of life under its icy surface<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 85-minute launch window opens at 10:21 a.m. ET. That means SpaceX has during that time frame to send up the massive rocket.<\/p>\n

If there is a scrub, the next launch attempt is Tuesday with another 85-minute launch window opening at 10:17 a.m. ET.<\/p>\n

Taking off<\/p>\n

The Falcon Heavy is made up of three Falcon 9 rocket boosters, with a total of 27 Merlin engines. (Each rocket booster has nine Merlin engines.)<\/p>\n

For this mission, each of the side boosters will attempt to land in a landing zone but the center booster will not be recovered.<\/p>\n

The side booster, B1072, has only conducted one launch:\u00a0the GOES-U weather satellite in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The booster will land at Landing Zone 40.<\/p>\n

For the booster B1075, this will be its 22nd mission. This is the first Florida launch for the booster, which will land at Landing Zone 2.<\/p>\n

For the center booster, B1098, this will be its maiden launch. And it is its only launch since it will not be recovered.<\/p>\n

\"SpaceX's<\/p>\n

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket launched the GOES-U weather satellite on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. The GOES-U is the latest and final satellite in the GOES-R series. It will help to provide meteorologists with the latest data to give the most accurate predictions, stated officials. (Spectrum News\/Anthony Leone)<\/p>\n

About the mission<\/p>\n

Global communications company ViaSat\u2019s broadband communications ViaSat-3 F3 satellite will be sent to a geostationary orbit.<\/p>\n

In fact, the California-based company stated that it will take a couple of months for it to travel to where it needs to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing launch, the ViaSat-3 F3 satellite will spend several months traveling to geostationary orbit before arriving at its reserved orbital slot. It will go through rigorous in-orbit testing of both the bus and payload before entering service, expected to occur by late summer 2026,\u201d the company confirmed in a press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ViaSat shared the duties of its satellite once it is in service.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ViaSat-3 satellites are designed with state-of-the-art technology to maximize efficient, flexible bandwidth deployment and provide enhanced performance for commercial mobility, fixed services and defense customers,\u201d stated the company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KENNEDY SPACE CENTER \u2014\u00a0SpaceX plans to use its Falcon Heavy rocket to launch the ViaSat company\u2019s telecommunications satellite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[129123,66082,2722,34722,37529,56589,66080,3,13677,79,193,624,74,452,37530],"class_list":["post-605043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-anthony-leone","tag-app-space","tag-app-top-stories","tag-brevard-county","tag-instagram-bn9","tag-instagram-n13","tag-new-space-race","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-science","tag-space","tag-tampa","tag-technology","tag-top-stories","tag-trending-topics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}