— NASA picks SpaceX Falcon Heavy to launch 1st Gateway station pieces to the moon USSF-44 was the first Falcon Heavy mission since June 2019. That long gap was due primarily to delays in the readiness of customer payloads, according to space industry analysts. The Falcon Heavy consists of three strapped-together first stages of SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket. The central booster is topped with an upper stage, which carries the payloads. Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy first stages are designed to be reusable. The two side boosters on USSF-67 will be reused from USSF-44, according to SpaceNews, and will attempt to land again for future reuse. USSF-67's central core is new and will not attempt a landing on Saturday, SpaceNews reported. Saturday's planned liftoff will continue a busy stretch for SpaceX. Elon Musk's company launched 40 internet satellites for the London-based company OneWeb on Monday night (Jan. 9) and plans to loft 51 of its own Starlink broadband craft on Tuesday night. In addition, SpaceX's robotic Dragon cargo capsule left the International Space Station on Monday to head back down to Earth. Dragon is expected to splash down off the Florida coast on Wednesday (Jan. 11), bringing an end to SpaceX's CRS-26 resupply mission for NASA. Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook. Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.