SpaceX’s mighty Falcon Heavy rocket will take off this week if all goes according to plan. SpaceX is officially targeting the next Falcon Heavy launch on Wednesday, July 26, the company announced today (July 24) via Twitter – sorry, via X. This launch will take place from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.

“Crews have completed launch readiness checks and Falcon Heavy is scheduled to launch the @HughesConnects JUPITER 3/@EchoStar XXIV satellite from Launch Complex 39A in Florida on Wednesday, July 26,” SpaceX said.

The upcoming mission will be the seventh for the Falcon Heavy, the world’s most powerful operational rocket until NASA’s Space Launch System launches on the Artemis 1 mission last November.

SpaceX is working to reclaim that title with its next-generation Starship vehicle, which will be the most powerful rocket ever. (The Starship made one flight to date during a test flight on April 20, resulting in destruction on command four minutes after takeoff.)

Falcon Heavy consists of three interconnected first stages of the company’s “horsepower” Falcon 9. At the top of the central amplifier are the upper stage and the load(s).

These first three stages are intended to be reused. SpaceX said today via X that if all goes according to plan, the two side boosters will return to Earth about eight minutes after takeoff and land at the Space Force Station at Cape Canaveral, located next to KSC.

Obviously, the central acceleration will not be restored due to the weight of the Jupiter-3 satellite. At 10.1 tonnes (9.2 metric tons), it will be the heaviest payload launched into stationary orbit about 22,200 miles (35,700 kilometers) above Earth. Falcon Heavy made its debut in February 2018 during a long-awaited test flight that sent Elon Musk’s red Tesla Roadster into orbit with a dummy nicknamed Starman behind the wheel.

So far, Falcon Heavy has been launched a total of six times, twice in 2023. According to experts, the relatively low frequency of launches today is largely explained by delays in the development of satellites designed to fly on a powerful rocket.