SpaceX has been riddled with delays for its Falcon Heavy's first critical test. The aerospace company is now eyeing a launch date on the first week of February, according to founder and business magnate Elon Musk.
Musk took to Twitter to announce that his company will finally test launch the rocket Falcon Heavy on Feb. 6. "Aiming for first flight of Falcon Heavy on Feb 6 from Apollo Launchpad 39A at Cape Kennedy. Easy viewing from the public causeway," Musk tweeted.
The Falcon Heavy will carry a Tesla roadster to serve as a dummy payload into space. The Falcon Heavy, however, is capable of carrying a payload equivalent to 54 metric tons and can carry it all the way to Mars. Unlike Falcon Heavy's little brother the Falcon 9, Heavy packs the launch power of three engine cores packed with nine Merlin engines each. That means a total of 27 "first-stage engines" will shoot the rocket right into space.
The Falcon Heavy had already passed its static fire test with flying colors. Last Wednesday, Musk tweeted, "Falcon Heavy hold-down firing this morning was good. Generated quite a thunderhead of steam."
According to SpaceX's launch manifesto, the Falcon Heavy is already lined up for a few mission in the future. The company is hoping for a successful test launch to make up for the number of delays that have pulled back Falcon Heavy's debut into deep space.
Musk nor any representative from SpaceX have not provided any new detail about the company's problem with the rocket's launch license. Office of the Commercial Space Transportation of the Federal Aviation Administration has not issued the license for massive rocket yet.
It is still unknown if the company will once again push the launch date during a further date or will it push through despite the absence of a launch license.
