OVERVIEW
Falcon Heavy
SpaceX’s heavy-lift launcher built from three modified Falcon 9 first stages; the side boosters return for reuse.
LauncherFalcon Heavy
Contents
living encyclopedia entry4 sections · 1 images · 1 sources · 1 linksupdated · 6 Sept 2026#falcon-heavy#vehicles
Falcon Heavy combines a core stage and two side boosters derived from Falcon 9, with 27 Merlin engines in total. The February 2018 demonstration flight sent a Tesla Roadster into heliocentric orbit and showed both side boosters landing simultaneously.
The launcher flies less often than Falcon 9 and serves mainly heavy or energy-demanding payloads: geostationary satellites, national-security missions, and NASA science probes. Starship is intended to take over the heaviest payloads in future, but remains in flight testing.
KEY CONTEXT
- First flight: 6 February 2018 from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center.
- Three boosters with nine Merlin engines each, 27 engines at liftoff.
- Side boosters land on shore; the core stage lands on a droneship or is expended depending on the mission profile.
SOURCES & FURTHER READINGlast verified · 6 September 2026
◉ NASA photography — public domain✦ AI illustration — marked, generated from sourcesarticle text — CC-BY-SA
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