Falcon Heavy -- SpaceX's Powerful New Rocket
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}SpaceX founder Elon Musk today unveiled the Falcon Heavy, a modified version of the Falcon 9 (pictured) with three times the power. (SpaceX)
SpaceX's new Falcon Heavy will compete with the largest commercial launchers available while maintaining cost effectiveness. It consists of a standard Falcon 9 with two additional Falcon 9 first stages acting as liquid strap-on boosters. (SpaceX)
SpaceX engineers fire off a rocket engine during testing. (SpaceX)
Engineers prepare the Falcon 9 for a demonstration. (SpaceX)
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket sits idly on a launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (SpaceX)
Falcon 9 blasts off on December 8 during SpaceX's historic test flight. It became the first company in history to re-enter a spacecraft from Earth orbit. This was the second flight of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. (SpaceX / Chris Thompson)
Dragon is a free-flying, reusable spacecraft developed to sit on top of the Falcon launch vehicles. On December 8th, SpaceX successfully launched Dragon into orbit before successfully recovering it, a first for private space-flight. (SpaceX)
A side-by-side comparison of SpaceX's Falcons. (SpaceX)