SpaceX conducted the “static launch” test of Falcon Heavy at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on Saturday, September 30. reported Company at X (formerly Twitter).

During Saturday’s test, team members briefly ignited the rocket’s 27 first stage engines while keeping the vehicle attached to the launch pad. The testing helped prepare the Falcon Heavy for the launch of NASA’s Psyche asteroid mission, scheduled for October 12 from KSC Pad 39A.

This launch will send Psyche on a long journey towards its namesake, a strange metallic object located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

If all goes as planned, the probe will reach asteroid Psyche in 2029 and then study it from orbit for at least the next 26 months. The mission’s observations could teach scientists a lot about planet formation and the early days of the solar system. Researchers believe the asteroid Psyche may be the exposed core of a protoplanet, a building block from which its cousins ​​came together to build Earth and other rocky worlds.

Falcon Heavy is the second most powerful rocket currently in use, behind NASA’s Space Launch System (although SpaceX’s new giant Starship will be the champion when it comes online). Falcon Heavy has flown seven times to date; the last one was in July. Psyche will be NASA’s first rocket mission.