Almost time for a “major pucker factor,” as Falcon Heavy readies for launch

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"This is one of those things that's really difficult to test on the ground."

Thursday night, SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted that the Falcon Heavy rocket would make its maiden launch in November from Launch Complex-39A in Florida. Although this event has been long promised by the company, with real hardware being tested and moved across the country, this date finally feels real.

Musk has recently attempted to set expectations for the maiden launch, which will carry a dummy payload because the rocket is so experimental. "I encourage people to come down to the Cape to see the first Falcon Heavy mission," Musk said earlier this month during a talk at the International Space Station Research & Development Conference. "It's guaranteed to be exciting."

The Falcon Heavy is powered by a modified Falcon 9 rocket as its center core, with two Falcon 9 first stages as side boosters. To work, its 27 orbital-class engines must ignite simultaneously, and SpaceX has been conducting tests on the ground. But the challenges don't end there. The company isn't sure about the airflow around the rocket as it goes through the sound barrier, nor how it will handle loads at MaxQ, when the vehicle is under maximum dynamic pressure.
"This is one of those things that's really difficult to test on the ground," Musk said at the ISS meeting. "So there's a lot of risk associated with the Falcon Heavy. There's a real good chance that vehicle does not make it to orbit. We want to make sure and set expectations accordingly. I hope that it makes it far enough away from the pad that it does not cause pad damage. I would consider even that a win to be honest. Major pucker factor."

If it works, the Falcon Heavy will have the capability to lift about 2.5 times more cargo into low Earth orbit than the Falcon 9 rocket, easily giving SpaceX the most powerful rocket in the world. It will be capable of sending heavier payloads into geostationary space for the military and may serve NASA as the agency seeks to ramp up its activity near the Moon.