SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launch from Florida: Recap of Wednesday Liftoff The SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket successfully launched from Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39A on Wednesday, April 28, 2026, at 10:13 a.m. ET, carrying the ViaSat-3F 3 satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit. The mission, delayed by poor weather conditions earlier in the week, marked the second Falcon Heavy launch from Florida since October 2024, when NASA’s Europa Clipper mission took flight. The launch followed a rigorous countdown timeline and was supported by favorable weather conditions, with a 90% chance of clear skies reported by the Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron. The Falcon Heavy, composed of three Falcon 9 boosters, is designed to deliver heavy payloads to orbit. For this mission, the rocket’s two side boosters successfully returned to Cape Canaveral’s Landing Zones 2 and 40 approximately eight minutes after liftoff, producing twin sonic booms audible across the region. The core stage, however, was expendable and did not return to Earth. The side boosters’ recovery was a notable departure from past landings, which often involved side-by-side touchdowns. One of the side boosters had previously flown on missions including the SDA-0A, SARah-2, Transporter-11, and 18 Starlink launches, while the second had been used for the GOES-U mission in June 2024. The ViaSat-3F 3 mission is part of the ViaSat-3 satellite constellation, a network of three Ka-band satellites designed to provide high-speed broadband services. The third satellite in the series, ViaSat-3 F3, is the most powerful of the fleet, expected to add over 1 terabit per second (Tbps) of capacity to the Asia-Pacific region.#spacex #kennedy_space_center #via_sat_3f_3 #falcon_heavy #brevard_county_emergency_management
