Will Robinson-Smith A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, carrying the ViaSat-3 F3 satellite, lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on April 29, 2026. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now Update April 29, 3:30 p.m. EDT (1930 UTC): SpaceX confirms successful deployment of the ViaSat-3 F3 satellite. SpaceX’s most powerful operational rocket, the Falcon Heavy, lifted off Wednesday carrying a massive communications satellite on its 12th flight since 2018. The 27 Merlin engines of the three Falcon boosters roared to life at 10:13 a.m. EDT (1413 UTC) and the 70-meter-tall (229.6 ft) rocket thundered away from Launch Complex 39A propelled by 5 million pounds of thrust. Less than 2.5 minutes after liftoff, the side boosters, tail numbers B1072 and B1075, throttled down on their engines and separated from the center core, tail number B1098. Both side boosters performed a boost back burn lasting more than a minute to put them on track towards two landing pads at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The center core, B1098, continued on for another 90 seconds before the second stage separated and began the first of three burns over five hours to deliver the ViaSat-3 F3 satellite to a geosynchronous transfer orbit. Less than three minutes after liftoff, the two side boosters on the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, B1072 (left) and B1075 (right) separate from the center core, B1098, to begin their journey back to land at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The rocket launched on the ViaSat-3 F3 mission on April 29, 2026. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now Less than eight minutes after the flight began, B1072 and B1075 reignited their center engines and touched down at Landing Zone 2 and Landing Zone 40. This was the first Falcon Heavy rocket launch to use SpaceX’s newest landing pad at Space Launch Complex 40. As with most Falcon Heavy missions, SpaceX did not recover the center core. Space Launch Delta 45 and the Eastern Range, a critical component to today’s success, facilitated the Falcon Heavy launch today, April 29, 2026, as the latest success in a record-breaking month. Where Mercury Program vehicles flew once and fell into the ocean, modern reusable rockets now land and fly again. The Mercury 7 memorial at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station marks how far technology has come. This achievement directly advances SLD 45 efforts to expand partnerships and deliver unmatched space access for our nation. U.S. Space Force photo by Gwendolyn Kurzen One more ignition of the Merlin Vacuum engine on the upper stage was on tap before deployment of the satellite came at nearly five hours after liftoff. The upper stage featured an additional thermal protection layer to ensure the fuel, a rocket-grade kerosene, does not freeze during the roughly four-hour coasting phase between the second and third engine ignitions. The ViaSat-3 F3 satellite is the second in the series to be launched onboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket and the third and final member of this constellation. The first satellite, ViaSat-3 Americas, launched on a Falcon Heavy rocket in 2023.