SpaceX Falcon Heavy is back for Florida launch. Inside look at rocket

• SpaceX's powerful Falcon Heavy rocket is scheduled for a rare launch from Florida's Kennedy Space Center.
• The Falcon Heavy is a super-heavy launch vehicle composed of three reusable Falcon 9 core boosters.
• It generates over 5 million pounds of thrust, far more than the frequently launched Falcon 9 rocket.

Floridians are about to be treated to a rare sight in the skies. For the first time in a year and a half, the mighty Falcon Heavy rocket is due to launch along the Atlantic Coast.

If you're unfamiliar with the spacecraft, the Falcon Heavy is similar to SpaceX's well-known Falcon 9 rocket – just beefier, badder and far, far more powerful. All told, the Falcon Heavy is able to transport nearly three times the amount of cargo to Earth orbit as its smaller Falcon 9 cousin.

And while the commercial spaceflight company founded by billionaire Elon Musk launches its Falcon 9 multiple times a month, it's a rarity for the Falcon Heavy to thunder into the skies from Cape Canaveral.

Before the Falcon Heavy gets off the ground for the first time since October 2024, here's everything to know about the rocket, including what sets it apart from the Falcon 9.

When will SpaceX next launch the Falcon Heavy rocket from Florida?

SpaceX is working toward a Monday, April 27, launch of its powerful Falcon Heavy rocket. The 85-minute launch window opens at 10:21 a.m. ET, with the rocket due to get off the ground from the Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral, Florida, according to SpaceX.

The rocket will carry telecommunications company ViaSat's broadband satellite to low-Earth orbit, where it will be in a geosynchronous transfer orbit. That's the first step to getting the payload to its final higher geosynchronous orbit that matches Earth's 24-hour rotation.

What is the Falcon Heavy rocket?

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy is classified as a super-heavy launch vehicle that the commercial space company boasts can lift the equivalent of a Boeing 737 jetliner – complete with passengers, luggage and fuel – to orbit.

The rocket is composed of not one, but three reusable core boosters from SpaceX's Falcon 9 – each powered by nine engines in the company's Merlin family.

That design makes the rocket capable of generating more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff – a measure of the amount of force used to push the vehicle off the ground. That amount of power is what SpaceX says is equal to about 18 Boeing 747 commercial airplanes taking off.

Depending on the orbit to which its payload is being deployed, the powerful Falcon Heavy can also transport up to nearly 64 metric tons, or 141,000 pounds, to space.

The three core boosters make up the rocket's first stage, with two of them affixed to the side. Each is equipped with four grid fins that help control the boosters when they eventually separate from the second stage of the rocket and land back on Earth to be reused again.

An interstage connects the first stage with the upper (or second) stage of the Falcon Heavy, which flies in orbit with the 43-feet-tall fairing that protects the payload.

How is it different from the SpaceX Falcon 9?

The Falcon Heavy may be the same height as the 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket, which is by far the most active rocket in the world.

SpaceX has launched its two-stage Falcon 9 hundreds of times from both Florida's Space Coast and the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California to deliver its Starlink broadband internet satellites to low-Earth orbit. The Falcon 9 is also the rocket that propels astronauts to the International Space Station on SpaceX's Dragon crew capsule.

But despite the shared height, the Falcon 9 rocket is less than half the weight of the Falcon 9 and nowhere near as powerful.

Comparatively, the medium-lift Falcon 9 launches atop 1.7 million pounds of thrust and is capable of carrying about 50,000 pounds of cargo to orbit.

Photos of SpaceX Falcon Heavy

When was the most recent Falcon Heavy launch?

The Falcon Heavy has only launched 11 times since its maiden voyage in 2018. That debut mission doubled as a test flight and publicity stunt that saw it deliver a Roadster sports car manufactured by Tesla, Musk's other company, to space.

About a year and a half has gone by since the Falcon Heavy last got off the ground. On Oct. 14, 2024, the rocket helped carry NASA's uncrewed Europa Clipper spacecraft on a mission to a moon of Jupiter of the same name, where it will search for signs of habitability in the vast ocean of liquid saltwater suspected to be beneath the surface.

The Falcon Heavy is also due to launch on a mission carrying NASA's new Nancy Grace Roman space telescope potentially by the end of 2026.

Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected]. Subscribe to the free Florida TODAY newsletter.