Countdown to lift-off: Watch SpaceX launch its most powerful rocket in landmark mission

SpaceX's astir almighty rocket is launching successful a landmark ngo from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

It marks lone the 4th take-off for the Falcon Heavy, its archetypal successful much than 3 years, and sees it fitted with 3 Falcon 9 boosters.

The boosters, which regularly motorboat connected their ain to transportation SpaceX's Starlink satellites up into orbit, are needed to supply their bigger member with the indispensable thrust to scope the stars.

Watch the motorboat unrecorded present from 1.30pm UK time.

In the payload for the USSF-44 ngo from Florida's Cape Canaveral are 2 US Space Force craft, including a microsatellite dubbed TETRA-1, which has been created for "various prototype missions".

The different trade being carried is classified.

Problems with getting the payload acceptable had delayed the motorboat aggregate times - it was primitively scheduled to instrumentality spot backmost successful 2020.

How the motorboat volition play out

SpaceX is targeting a motorboat astatine 9.41am section clip (1.41pm UK).

Conditions were favourable up of the rearranged take-off date, with bluish skies greeting the rocket arsenic it rolled towards motorboat pad 39A connected Monday.

Just implicit a infinitesimal aft launch, we volition scope the infinitesimal of highest mechanical accent connected the rocket - soon after, its 2 broadside boosters volition person their engines chopped and abstracted from the main rocket.

Both volition onshore astatine SpaceX's landing zones astatine Cape Canaveral astir 8 minutes aft launch.

The main rocket volition person near Earth's ambiance by then, earlier the payload separates.

SpaceX brag Elon Musk retweeted a representation of the rocket being readied, up of the company's astir important motorboat until adjacent month's planned Starship mission.

The institution is hoping to motorboat the monolithic rocket strategy into orbit for the archetypal clip successful December - a pivotal objection arsenic it aims to alert NASA astronauts to the satellite successful the coming years.