SpaceX plans to launch its giant Falcon Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral today. The two-hour launch window begins at 5:16 pm from launch complex 39A.
Once it launches, this will be Falcon Heavy’s tenth launch overall and its first this year.
Falcon Heavy has three rocket boosters. SpaceX will salvage the two side boosters that will return to Cape Canaveral. Their landing will cause two sonic booms that, depending on weather and other conditions, may be heard across Central Florida.
The booster's return will happen about eight minutes after liftoff. The booms are not a threat, but they are loud and can frighten some residents.
On the Falcon Heavy is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) fourth and final Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite: GOES-U.
The satellites will help advance weather tracking and predictions in space and on Earth.
The better monitoring will help scientists issue warnings and protect residents in the Americas when there is threatening weather.
In addition, GOES-U has a compact coronagraph that will image the outer layer of the sun’s atmosphere, which will help detect things like coronal mass ejections or expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun’s corona, its outer atmosphere.
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