SpaceX Falcon Heavy Green Lit For Launch, Space Community Abuzz With Anticipation

The launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket has been long in the making. Now, SpaceX has received the green light from the federal government to finally send the largest rocket in history into space and the community is simply abuzz with anticipation. If successful, the Falcon Heavy could forever change the space industry as it is currently known.

SpaceX is set to launch the rocket into orbit on Tuesday, around 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET, Business Insider reports. The Falcon Heavy was supposed to have already gone to space as early as 2013, but technical difficulties have resulted in several delays.

Barring any potential problems with the rocket’s system itself, which is always a possibility, humanity could witness the single biggest rocket launch ever conducted. Just to up the stakes a bit for SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the Falcon Heavy will also have a very special payload to carry into space: his 2008 Tesla Roadster.

The cargo is actually one of the reasons why it took a bit of doing for the FAA to give SpaceX permission to launch the Falcon Heavy. All payloads need to have a permit and the Roadster was given no exception.

In any case, a lot of people are still unclear as to what the successful launch of the Falcon Heavy will mean to the future of the space industry. The Verge kindly provided a list of the possible outcomes of the launch, including both scenarios of incredible success and catastrophic failure.

By and large, the success of the Falcon Heavy will open new avenues of space exploration for humanity. As the cheapest platform for launching satellites and people into space with an incredible cargo capacity, the rocket could have a huge number of uses.

For investors, it could also mean vindication as SpaceX could become more profitable than ever. With the Falcon Heavy, sending a huge number of cargo items up into space can be done with a single launch rather than multiple attempts, each one increasing the likelihood of an explosion.