National security mission The Falcon Heavy is powered by three Falcon 9 boosters strapped together to produce over 5 million pounds of thrust. It's used for carrying very heavy payloads or for placing payloads in extreme orbits. Tuesday’s USSF-44 Falcon Heavy mission was the first time the rocket was used to launch a Space Force national security payload. The last flight of the Falcon Heavy came in June 2019. It was a demonstration mission for the Department of Defense that launched 24 experimental satellites and other customer payloads. “Every national security launch brings important capabilities to the nation, and investments in space capabilities increase the effectiveness of operations in every other domain (of) the U.S. military,” said Purdy. USSF-44 won’t be the last time a Space Force logo is seen on the nosecone of the powerful rocket, however. At least two more national security payloads, USSF-52 and USSF-67, are slated to fly soon. In total, SpaceX has over a dozen orders for Falcon Heavy missions for the government, private customers, and NASA. More to come Tuesday’s Falcon Heavy is just the first SpaceX rocket to fly from the Space Coast this week. At nearby pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, a Falcon 9 is slated to fly Wednesday night, Nov. 2. It will boost the Hotbird-F2 satellite to orbit for customer Eutelsat. During the two-hour launch window which opens at 11:24 p.m. EDT, Space Force forecasters expect weather conditions to be 90% “go.” Forecasters said offshore showers cannot be ruled out, but cumulus clouds are the primary concern for a launch attempt. The Falcon Heavy will only reign as the most powerful rocket in use until NASA’s Space Launch System rocket launches on its inaugural Artemis I mission. That rocket will pack a whopping 8.8 million pounds of thrust and send an uncrewed Orion capsule around the moon and back. After multiple scrubbed launch attempts in August and September, NASA’s 320-foot moon rocket and Orion crew capsule were returned to the Vehicle Assembly Building for refuge from Hurricane Ian. On Friday, Nov. 4, NASA teams will roll the rocket out again around midnight. NASA’s massive Crawler-Transporter 2 will make the roughly 3-mile trek back to Launch Complex 39-B and deliver the rocket to its launch pad. If all proceeds as scheduled the next Artemis I launch attempt is expected as early as Monday, Nov.14, at 12:07 a.m. EST. If it launches then, the Artemis I mission will last about 25 days with an Orion splashdown to occur off the coast of California in mid-December. For the latest, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule. Jamie Groh is a space reporter for Florida Today. You can contact her at JGroh@floridatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter at @AlteredJamie. Launch Wednesday, November 2