SpaceX Scrubs Falcon Heavy Launch Due to Weather

SpaceX scrubbed the launch of its Falcon Heavy rocket on Monday due to unfavorable weather at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, marking the first planned flight of the heavy-lift vehicle in 18 months. The mission, carrying the ViaSat-3 F3 communications satellite, had an 85-minute window opening at 10:21 a.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A. A backup opportunity is set for Tuesday at 10:17 a.m. EDT, with the vehicle and payload reported healthy.

The Falcon Heavy, configured with three Falcon 9 first stages and a central upper stage, generates more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, making it one of the most powerful operational rockets. This 12th mission follows 11 consecutive successes since its 2018 debut. The side boosters, one with 22 prior flights and the other fewer, are slated to separate minutes after launch and land simultaneously at Landing Zones 2 and 40 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, about eight minutes post-liftoff. The central core will be expended into the Atlantic Ocean to complete the demanding trajectory to geosynchronous transfer orbit.

The 6-metric-ton ViaSat-3 F3 satellite, the third and final in its constellation, aims to provide over 1...