SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket lifted off for the first time this year on Sunday, carrying a classified military payload to orbit for the United States Space Force.
Dubbed USSF-67, it launched just before 6:00 p.m. from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Falcon Heavy, which is essentially three Falcon 9 rockets strapped together, has five million pounds of thrust and can lift nearly 64 metric tons to orbit.
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The two side boosters disconnected and landed simultaneously at Cape Canaveral’s Landing Zones 1 and 2 about eight minutes after liftoff. It marked the 163rd and 164th successful landings of an orbital-class rocket.
SpaceX ended the broadcast after both boosters landed at the request of the Space Force. It was the fifth Falcon Heavy launch in SpaceX’s history.
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The company’s next launch is scheduled for Jan. 19, when Falcon 9 will carry 51 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California.