SpaceX launches Falcon Heavy rocket for Space Force mission

SpaceX said on Twitter that liftoff occurred at 9:43 a.m. The rocket launched from launch Complex 39A at the Kenny Space Center, according to NASA.

The launch is part of USSF-44 mission and is expected to deploy two spacecraft payloads directly into geosynchronous orbit including the TETRA 1 microsatellite developed by Boeing subsidiary Millennium Space Systems for the U.S. military.

Little else is known about the two payloads as the mission is mostly classified.

SpaceX has described the Falcon Heavy rocket as the "most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two."

It is composed of three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, equal to approximately 18 Boeing 747 aircraft.

Tuesday's launch was the first time a Falcon Heavy rocket has lifted off since June 2019 and will be just the fourth mission ever for the rocket, which debuted in 2018.