Another First For SpaceX: Successfully Completes Its First Commercial Mission Using Falcon Heavy Rocket

Billionaire Elon Musk’s space exploration company SpaceX on Thursday (11 April) completed its first commercial mission for a paying customer by placing Saudi Arabia’s Arabsat in orbit through its massive Falcon Heavy rocket.

“On Thursday, April 11 at 6:35 p.m. EDT, Falcon Heavy launched the Arabsat-6A satellite from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The satellite was deployed approximately 34 minutes after liftoff,” said a company statement.

In a spectacular display of engineering prowess, SpaceX recovered all three boosters of the Falcon Heavy rocket back on Earth, a feat it could not pull off in the rocket’s demonstration flight last year.

A Series Of Firsts

Founded in 2002, the company has gained worldwide attention for a series of historic milestones. It is the only private company capable of returning a spacecraft from low Earth orbit, which it first accomplished in 2010.

The company made history again in 2012 when its Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to and from the International Space Station (ISS).

It should be noted that Falcon Heavy is the world’s most powerful operational rocket by a factor of two.

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