SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket is all set for its first launch this Tuesday, February 6, 2018, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida as announced earlier.
The Falcon Heavy launcher will carry a red Tesla Roadster car as its first payload to an orbit around Earth and Mars. The red roaster would apparently play late David Bowie's "Space Oddity" song in its orbit.
The iconic launch will be witnessed by veteran film actor Harrison Ford among others.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has tweeted on his official Twitter page that the launch will take place at 1:30 PM on Tuesday and has stated that it will launch at Florida Time.
Falcon Heavy will be one of the most powerful launchers ever built after NASA's Saturn V and the Soviet Union Energia. Falcon Heavy is built of three Falcon 9 rockets, one as the core and two others as strap-on-booster for the first stage of the mission.
The 27 engine rocket is SpaceX's most powerful launch vehicle for its Mars missions which have been planned to land on Red Planet by 2022. A robotic explorer would land in the Martian soil through this launch.
Elon Musk has plans to send the first Human mission to Mars by 2024, which would start the age of colonization of the Red Planet. Musk's recent Twitter posts show postures representing human travel to Mars. It is given with a caption "Regular departures" hinting regular Martian tours.
The rocket has completed its strategic firing tests at NASA's Kennady Space Center in Florida on January 24. Falcon Heavy had ignited all of its 27 rocket engines during the firing test which proved its strength.
The rocket has been built as a re-usable super heavy-lift launch vehicle. It can carry a payload of over 54 metric tons which is equivalent to the capacity of a 737 jetliner aircraft loaded with passengers, crew, luggage, and fuel. Its next closest launcher Delta IV Heavy could carry loads of only half the weight of Falcon Heavy.
Meanwhile, SpaceX's capsule vehicle Dragon will carry astronauts to the International Space Station for its first human spaceflight mission this year. Dragon has been used to carry cargoes to the space station during its earlier missions.
The successful flight of Falcon Heavy followed by Dragon's first flight with the ISS crew will give a strategic boost for the upcoming Mars colonization mission.
