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After several days of strong thunderstorms, hail and even a lightning strike at the launch pad, the weather cleared for SpaceX to launch its powerhouse Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center on Sunday evening.

Liftoff of the most powerful active rocket on the market from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A took place at 8:26 p.m. marking the 21st launch of the year from the Space Coast.

Its main payload is the ViaSat-3 Americas broadband communications satellite, the first of three planned for the company headed for geostationary orbit. Also flying are the Astranis MicroGEO satellite and Gravity Space’s GS-1 satellite.

It’s only the sixth launch ever for the rocket but second so far in 2023. Among active rockets, its power is only bested by NASA’s Space Launch System that has only flown once and SpaceX’s in-development Starship, which exploded before reaching space during a test launch earlier in April.

It’s essentially three Falcon 9 rockets strapped together with 27 Merlin engines that produce 5.1 million pounds of thrust on liftoff. Past launches have brought out thousands of spectators to the Space Coast. read more

After several days of strong thunderstorms, hail and even a lightning strike at the launch pad, the weather cleared for SpaceX to launch its powerful Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center on Sunday evening.