SpaceX has announced that it has completed the testing on all three of the Falcon Heavy rocket's first stage cores. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is hoping the company will launch the Falcon Heavy rocket in November.
In a tweet, the company says that three first stage cores have completed their testing, and showed off a video of a static test of one of the cores. The company conducted its first static test of the Falcon Heavy’s main core in May.
Falcon Heavy’s 3 first stage cores have all completed testing at our rocket development facility in McGregor, TX → https://t.co/GJu23QdZRK pic.twitter.com/ivVXPhWu0u
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 2, 2017
Falcon Heavy rocket ultimately amounts to three Falcon 9 rockets linked together (one of which is strengthened), but it should be crucial to SpaceX's future business. Right now, a solo Falcon 9 can't carry more than 50,000lbs on a one-way trip to low Earth orbit.
The Falcon Heavy, when it goes into service, would become the most powerful rocket in use, and is considered by some the successor to NASA’s Saturn V heavy lift rocket, which was retired in 1973.
The first flight of the Falcon Heavy has been delayed several times: Musk said back in 2011 that the rocket would first fly in 2013, but faced several challenges that forced SpaceX to push back the date.