SpaceX and Space Systems Command are preparing to launch later in October the U.S. Space Force-44 mission aboard the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket.
USSF-44 will lift off from a launch complex at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to deploy multiple satellites into orbit as part of the National Security Space Launch program and for Space Systems Command’s Innovation and Prototyping Delta, SSC said Friday.
In 2019, the first Falcon Heavy rocket took off and fielded 24 experimental satellites as part of the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program.
“This will be our first NSSL Falcon Heavy, and the first Falcon Heavy since STP-2 over three years ago,” said Col. Douglas Pentecost, deputy program executive officer for assured access to space at SSC.
“Our launch and mission assurance team and SpaceX, along with the fantastic crew at Space Launch Delta 45, have done an absolutely superb job preparing this rocket. We put important national capabilities into space to address the threat, and working together we ensure one hundred percent mission success,” added Pentecost.
SpaceX intends to recover and refurbish the side boosters for the upcoming launch with the Space Force later in 2022.