The rocket will fire from launchpad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, which was used by NASA to launch its historic Apollo 11 moon mission. Destination is set for the orbit of Mars 140 million miles (225 million kilometers) away. According to SpaceX founder Elon Musk: ‘Destination is Mars orbit. Will be in deep space for a billion years or so if it doesn’t blow up on ascent.’
Falcon Heavy fire test
The mission marks SpaceX’s most ambitious project to date, after Musk founded SpaceX in 2002. ‘There’s a lot of risk associated with Falcon Heavy,’ he said during the 2017 International Space Station Research and Development Conference. He also said: ‘I love that rocket so much.’ The launch will be like three normal SpaceX launches happening simultaneously because three SpaceX Falcon boosters will be strapped together. The heavy system is designed to eventually take humans to Mars, with reusable vehicles that lower costs.
