SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, the most powerful rocket currently flying, launched a handful of classified payloads for the U.S. Space Force on Nov. 1, 2022. It was the first Falcon Heavy mission since June 2019.
The mission, called USSF-44, lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Two of the Falcon Heavy’s three core boosters returned for successful touchdowns at nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station; the rocket’s central booster ditched into the sea rather than attempt its own landing, because the demanding mission used up most of its propellant.