Liftoff is expected Tuesday (Nov. 1) at 9:40 a.m. EDT (1340 GMT).
will be the first Falcon Heavy launch since June 2019, a flight that gained the rocket the proper Space Force certifications it needed for this upcoming mission. That most recent mission required the Heavy's second stage to perform four engine restarts, pushing the stage to its capability limits. USSF-44 will also push Falcon Heavy to its limits, but in different ways.
USSF-44 is skipping the center booster landing attempt to maximize fuel availability in order to meet the orbital requirements of the mission. So, rather than touching down softly on one of SpaceX's drone ships floating in the Atlantic, this Falcon Heavy core booster will plummet into the sea while its companion side boosters touch down vertically at the Cape.
Very little is known about USSF-44's two payloads. Of the duo, only one has been identified by name: TETRA-1, which was built by Millennium Space Systems, a Boeing subsidiary. According to,"TETRA-1 is a microsatellite created for various prototype missions in and around geosynchronous Earth orbit." Beyond that, little is available about TETRA-1 or its larger companion payload.
The Falcon Heavy employs three strapped-together first-stage boosters, which are modified versions of SpaceX's workhorserocket. The trio launching USSF-44 have never flown before. The USSF-44 Falcon Heavy, sans payloads, was rolled out to Pad 39A on Oct. 25 for a static test fire of the launch vehicle's 27 first-stage Merlin engines, which was completed two days later. Thursday's successful static fire put USSF-44 on track for a Nov.
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