{"id":613827,"date":"2026-04-29T19:43:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T19:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/613827\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T19:43:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T19:43:17","slug":"spacex-launches-1st-falcon-heavy-since-2024-bringing-sonic-booms-to-central-florida-orlando-sentinel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/613827\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX launches 1st Falcon Heavy since 2024 bringing sonic booms to Central Florida \u2013 Orlando Sentinel"},"content":{"rendered":"

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER \u2014 Central Florida got served up a pair of sonic booms as SpaceX launched its Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time since 2024.<\/p>\n

Liftoff of Falcon Heavy! pic.twitter.com\/Lc1l0brLwK<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 29, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

After scrubbing an attempt Monday because of weather, the heavy-lift rocket \u2014 essentially three Falcon 9 boosters strapped together \u2014 shot off Kennedy Space Center\u2019s Launch Pad 39-A at 10:13 a.m.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launches from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A on Wednesday, April 29, 2026 on the ViaSat-3 F3 mission to send a satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit. It was the rocket’s first launch since 2024 and 12th ever. (Richard Tribou\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launches from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A on Wednesday, April 29, 2026 on the ViaSat-3 F3 mission to send a satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit. It was the rocket’s first launch since 2024 and 12th ever. (Richard Tribou\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launches from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A on Wednesday, April 29, 2026 on the ViaSat-3 F3 mission to send a satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit. It was the rocket’s first launch since 2024 and 12th ever. (Richard Tribou\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Wednesday, April 29, 2026. (AP Photo\/John Raoux)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Wednesday, April 29, 2026. (AP Photo\/John Raoux)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral on Wednesday. (John Raoux\/AP)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launches from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A on Wednesday, April 29, 2026 on the ViaSat-3 F3 mission to send a satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit. It was the rocket’s first launch since 2024 and 12th ever. (Richard Tribou\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket punches a hole through the clouds after launching from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39-A on Wednesday, April 29, 2026 on the ViaSat-3 F3 mission to send a satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit. It was the rocket’s first launch since 2024 and 12th ever. (Richard Tribou\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launches from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A on Wednesday, April 29, 2026 on the ViaSat-3 F3 mission to send a satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit. It was the rocket’s first launch since 2024 and 12th ever. (Richard Tribou\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launches from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A on Wednesday, April 29, 2026 on the ViaSat-3 F3 mission to send a satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit. It was the rocket’s first launch since 2024 and 12th ever. (Richard Tribou\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launches from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A on Wednesday, April 29, 2026 on the ViaSat-3 F3 mission to send a satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit. It was the rocket’s first launch since 2024 and 12th ever. (Richard Tribou\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"SpaceX<\/p>\n

SpaceX Falcon Heavy on the ViaSat-3 F3 mission at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A, on Monday, April 27, 2026. The launch was postponed because of weather. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda\/ Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"SpaceX<\/p>\n

SpaceX Falcon Heavy on the ViaSat-3 F3 mission at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A, on Monday, April 27, 2026. The launch was postponed because of weather. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda\/ Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"SpaceX<\/p>\n

SpaceX Falcon Heavy on the ViaSat-3 F3 mission at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A, on Monday, April 27, 2026. The launch was postponed because of weather. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda\/ Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, left, sits at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A on Monday, April 27, 2026, while construction continues on a future launch tower for SpaceX’s Starship and Super Heavy rocket. (Richard Tribou\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy sits on the pad at Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39-A awaiting launch Monday, April 27, 2026, on the VIaSat-3 mission. (Courtesy\/SpaceX)<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 16<\/p>\n

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launches from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A on Wednesday, April 29, 2026 on the ViaSat-3 F3 mission to send a satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit. It was the rocket’s first launch since 2024 and 12th ever. (Richard Tribou\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Two of the boosters nailed landings at two different launch complexes on neighboring Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, with one touching down at the new Landing Zone 40 adjacent SpaceX\u2019s regular launch site for its Falcon 9 rockets, and the other at Landing Zone 2 a few miles south within what had been Launch Complex 13.<\/p>\n

This was the 22nd flight for one of the boosters and second for the other side booster.<\/p>\n

The loud crack-crack of the rocket boosters\u2019 return breaking the sound barrier could be heard in parts of Central Florida about eight minutes after liftoff.<\/p>\n

SpaceX early on in the rocket\u2019s career gave up trying to recover the center stage on Falcon Heavy flights, so that middle booster crashed into the Atlantic after it finished the job of pushing the ViaSat payload on its way to a geosynchronous transfer orbit. This is ViaSat\u2019s third and final communications satellite for a constellation that when operational will cover the entirety of Earth from about 22,000 miles altitude. The ViaSat-3 F3 is targeting coverage of the Asia-Pacific region.<\/p>\n

Falcon Heavy\u2019s side boosters have landed on LZ-2 and LZ-40! pic.twitter.com\/aVRh7OCiLX<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 29, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOnce ViaSat-3 F3 is in service, the completed ViaSat-3 constellation will become a cornerstone of our unified, global, high-capacity network,\u201d said company Chairman and CEO Mark Dankberg. The first satellite launched in 2023, also on a Falcon Heavy, and entered service in 2024 while the second that launched on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V last November remains in testing. It has both civil and government customers.<\/p>\n

This marks only the 12th time Falcon Heavy has launched. It made its debut to much fanfare launching Elon Musk\u2019s Tesla roadster to space in 2018<\/a>. But it has not flown since October 2024 when it launched the Europa Clipper mission<\/a> for NASA headed for Jupiter\u2019s moon Europa.<\/p>\n

Falcon Heavy is the second most powerful active rocket launching from the Space Coast behind NASA\u2019s Space Launch System rocket, which recently flew only its second mission with the Artemis II launch on April 1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Falcon Heavy\u2019s three boosters are outfitted with 27 Merlin engines, which produce 5.1 million pounds of thrust on liftoff, more powerful than Blue Origin\u2019s New Glenn or ULA\u2019s Atlas V and Vulcan rockets.<\/p>\n

Of note, this will be sixth different type of rocket<\/a> to launch from Florida this year, following missions flown on Falcon 9\u2019s, the SLS, ULA\u2019s Atlas V and Vulcan rockets and Blue Origin\u2019s New Glenn. It was the 31st mission from the Space Coast for 2025<\/a>, and only the second from KSC following the Artemis II launch since SpaceX moved all of its Falcon 9 missions over to its Canaveral site at SLC-40.<\/p>\n

Falcon Heavy\u2019s presence on the Space Coast has been sporadic, with long droughts between launches before. It went more than three years between its third and fourth launches from 2019-2022. And it has now been more than 1 1\/2 years since the last launch.<\/p>\n

But there are several more flights on tap this year:<\/p>\n

Astrobotic Technology will try for the moon again with its Griffin lander. This is a much larger lander than Astrobotic\u2019s Peregrine lander, which launched on the debut mission of ULA\u2019s Vulcan in 2024, but suffered damage after deployment so it never made it to the moon. It was also NASA\u2019s first Commercial Lunar Payload Services mission, which has since been followed by landers from Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace. All have at least made it to the moon, although only Firefly\u2019 lander stuck its landing successfully. That flight could come as early as July.<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s Nancy Grace Roman Telescope, designed to study dark energy, dark matter and exoplanets on a five-year mission during which scientists expect to catalog and study more than 100,000 planets among hundreds of millions of galaxies and billions of stars. Originally targeting launch in 2027, NASA recently announced the telescope will be ready for launch as soon as early September, coming in about eight months ahead of schedule and under budget.<\/p>\n

The Space Force has a classified payload on the USSF-75 mission, which would be the fourth national security mission flown on a Falcon Heavy, and could fly before the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Falcon Heavy may have a limited lifespan in the coming years as SpaceX continues to develop the new Starship and Super Heavy rocket, which would take over the heavy-lift responsibilities for Falcon Heavy.<\/p>\n

While those launches for now remain test missions from SpaceX\u2019s launch site Starbase in Texas, the company continues to build out what will be its first operational launch tower at KSC\u2019s Launch Complex 39-A adjacent to the pad from which Falcon Heavy will launch.<\/p>\n

Just last week, SpaceX announced it was retiring one of its two Atlantic-based droneships it had been using for booster recoveries. The ship named Just Read the Instructions brought back to Port Canaveral one final booster after 156 landings. SpaceX announced the droneship will now be focused on Starship operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith 39A becoming a primarily Falcon Heavy and Starship pad, we don\u2019t actually need two operational droneships on the east coast to maintain our Falcon manifest,\u201d said SpaceX vice president for launch Kiko Dontchev on X. \u201cThink of pads\/drone ships like airplane runways where you need a landing runway for each takeoff runway (ideally they are the same runway I.e. starship).\u201d<\/p>\n

The remaining droneship, A Shortfall of Gravitas, can support four-day launch cycle time while SpaceX will continue to use primarily LZ-40 for return-to-launch-site missions, Dontchev said.<\/p>\n

Just Read the Instructions will now join SpaceX\u2019s ship You\u2019ll Thank Me Later to transport Starship and Super Heavy hardware from Texas to Florida. SpaceX has said it would have its first operational launch from KSC before the end of the year from KSC while it continues to also build out two more launch towers at Canaveral\u2019s Space Launch Complex 37.<\/p>\n

Work also continues on the Florida version of the Gigabay rocket manufacturing site, part of SpaceX\u2019s $1.8 billion infrastructure investment. Once complete, Florida-based launches will get their hardware from that rocket factory, but for now, all the boosters and upper stages come from Texas\u2019 Gigabay site, and have to sail over to the Space Coast.<\/p>\n

When it does launch, Starship and Super Heavy will dwarf the power of both Falcon Heavy and NASA\u2019s SLS. The massive rocket produces nearly 17 million pounds of thrust on liftoff, and produces or more potent sonic boom when its booster returns to the launch site.<\/p>\n

The Super Heavy booster is designed to be caught by the two swiveling arms called \u201cchopsticks\u201d on the launch tower while the upper stage is designed to potentially land back at the launch site as well after making at least one orbit of the Earth. Those return flights will also bring potential sonic booms across Central Florida with a return trajectory that will take it across the state from West to East, similar to how the space shuttles used to land back at KSC.<\/p>\n

SpaceX, though, has been delaying its most recent attempts to launch a new version of Starship from Texas called Version 3. SpaceX founder Elon Musk most recently indicated it would try for a May launch from Texas on what would be the rocket\u2019s 12th suborbital flight. The 11th launch came in October, the final launch of the Version 2 Starship.<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s SLS, meanwhile, won\u2019t fly again until at least mid 2027 on the Artemis III mission.<\/p>\n

So for now, the Falcon Heavy remains the big rocket show in town.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t