SpaceX launches Falcon Heavy mission on Friday the 13th for NASA asteroid mission
A triple-core SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket vaulted away from Kennedy Space Center Friday morning to kick off NASA's interplanetary Psyche mission on a 2.2 billion mile journey to the asteroid belt.
At 10:19 a.m. EDT, 27 Merlin 1D main engines roared to life, producing about 5 million pounds of thrust to propel the 230-foot rocket away from pad 39A. Friday's mission was NASA's first science payload to fly aboard the heavy-class rocket. The Psyche spacecraft is designed to study a metal-rich asteroid of the same name.
Another SpaceX mission was slated for liftoff hours later Friday night from nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. A Falcon 9 rocket packed with another batch of the company's Starlink internet satellites was set to fly from Launch Complex 40.
Check floridatoday.com/space for live Space Team updates of the Starlink 6-22 mission to begin 90 minutes before liftoff.
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Double booster landing sonic booms startled some on Friday
About eight minutes after liftoff, spectators were treated to a double booster landing at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The center core continued on to push Psyche to an interplanetary transfer orbit, with payload deployment occurring about an hour after liftoff.
The back-to-back sonic booms produced as the vehicles crossed the speed-of-sound threshold startled numerous unsuspecting Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex guests outside the shuttle Atlantis building. Some guests visibly jumped, ducked and winced from the echoing booms, which thundered from the sky.
Jim and Maureen Tingwald of Branson, Missouri, secured seats at the top of the east-facing bleachers at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex launch viewing zone.
Jim surprised Maureen for their 25th wedding anniversary by booking a 10-day Orlando vacation. The couple drove from their condominium to the Space Coast to watch their first-ever launch out of curiosity’s sake.
“To come experience it in person is just exciting,” she said.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said.
What to know about NASA's Psyche mission:
Friday's flight marked SpaceX's eighth of a Falcon Heavy rocket since it first began operation in 2018. What set the Psyche mission apart from the others was that it was the first dedicated to a NASA payload — a billion-dollar one at that. Others have supported national security and commercial satellite payloads.
"Psyche’s mission is to study an asteroid that may be like Earth’s core, composed of a mixture of rock and iron-nickel metal," NASA said in a release. "The asteroid offers a unique window into these building blocks of planet formation and the opportunity to investigate a previously unexplored type of world."
According to NASA, Psyche will fly by Mars for a gravity assist just over 2.5 years into its mission.
It will take the spacecraft about six years to complete the journey to its final home in the asteroid belt. Then, it will spend 26 months orbiting around the Psyche asteroid to map and study its properties.
“(Psyche) is a great way for us to learn about our planet," retired NASA astronaut Bill McArthur said. "The more we know about our planet, the better we will be able to protect it."
When he was a kid, he enjoyed the 1959 sci-fi adventure movie “Journey to the Center of the Earth” starring Pat Boone and James Mason. But in reality, he said intense underground heat and pressure make it impossible to drill deep enough to approach the Earth’s core.
He said the Psyche spacecraft’s onboard instruments should help scientists learn about how planets are constructed.
“It’s cool," McArthur said. "Psyche’s going to allow us to sort of look back and have a lot more understanding on how our planet formed. How was the planet Earth born?”
“That’s important information. Because the more we understand about our home planet, the better stewards we can be to protect this really, really valuable resource,” he said.
All told, the Psyche mission launch marked the fourth Falcon Heavy flight this year and SpaceX's 271st launch of a Falcon family rocket — Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy — from its three launch pads in Florida and California. It also marked the seventh time SpaceX has pulled off its signature double booster ballet, having only once expended all three boosters to a watery grave in the Atlantic Ocean.
When is the next SpaceX rocket launch?
The next liftoff expected from the Space Coast is tentatively set to be a SpaceX Falcon 9 with another batch of the company's Starlink internet satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station slated for liftoff Friday evening.
For the latest launch schedule updates, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.
Contact Jamie Groh at JGroh@floridatoday.com and follow her on X at @AlteredJamie.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here). Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX launched a Falcon Heavy on Friday for NASA asteroid mission
