The Falcon Heavy consists of 27 engines with 5 million pounds of thrust – that’s as much as 18 Boeing 747s. In fact, it’s so much thrust that there’s no need to run the engines at max capacity during the launch. Instead the thrust is throttled and optimized throughout the flight.
So here’s the plan for the test launch mission: the Falcon Heavy rocket would take off at the Kenedy Space Center, and then release it’s payload out into space. Two of the rocket’s boosters would be programmed to return back to Cape Canaveral to be recycled, while the 3rd booster – travelling much too fast to make the Cape – would land on a floating platform 500 kilometers off shore.
With the boosters measuring 16 stories in height, it was a tall task…
