Falcon Heavy is a super heavy-lift launch vehicle[b] with partial reusability that can carry cargo into Earth orbit and beyond.

[7] As a dummy payload, the rocket carried a Tesla Roadster belonging to SpaceX founder Elon Musk, with a mannequin dubbed "Starman" in the driver's seat.

[15] SpaceX unveiled the plan for the Falcon Heavy to the public at a Washington, D.C., news conference in April 2011, with an initial test flight expected in 2013.

[18] The initial test flight for the first Falcon Heavy lifted off on 6 February 2018, at 20:45 UTC, carrying its dummy payload, Elon Musk's personal Tesla Roadster, beyond Mars orbit.

[21] By April 2011, the capabilities and performance of the Falcon 9 vehicle were better understood, SpaceX having completed two successful demonstration missions to low Earth orbit (LEO), one of which included reignition of the second-stage engine.

[29] In April 2011, Musk was planning for a first launch of Falcon Heavy from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California on the United States west coast in 2013.

[8] On December 28, 2017, the Falcon Heavy was moved to the launch pad in preparation of a static fire test of all 27 engines, which was expected on 19 January 2018.

[50] A year after the successful demo flight, SpaceX had signed five commercial contracts worth US$500–750 million, meaning that it had managed to cover the development cost of the rocket.

[53] Operational Geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) missions for Intelsat and Inmarsat, which were planned for late 2017, were moved to the Falcon 9 Full Thrust rocket version as it had become powerful enough to lift those heavy payloads in its expendable configuration.

[60][61] However, Falcon Heavy will support commercial missions for the Artemis program,[62] since it will be used to transport the Dragon XL spacecraft to the Lunar Gateway.

[67] Falcon Heavy was designed from the outset to carry humans into space and it would restore the possibility of flying crewed missions to the Moon or Mars.

[3] The upper stage is powered by a single Merlin 1D engine modified for vacuum operation, with a thrust of 934 kN (210,000 lbf), an expansion ratio of 117:1 and a nominal burn time of 397 seconds.

[76] A fully expendable Falcon Heavy is in the super heavy-lift category with a maximum payload of 64 t (141,000 lb) to low Earth orbit.

[1] With just the core booster expended, and two side-boosters recovered, Musk estimates the payload penalty to be around 10%, which would still yield over 57 t (126,000 lb) of lift capability to LEO.

[85] SpaceX has since demonstrated routine land and sea recovery of the Falcon 9 first stage, and have successfully recovered multiple payload fairings.

Falcon Heavy payload performance to geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) is reduced by the reusable technology, but at a much lower price.

[73] As a comparison, the next-heaviest contemporary rocket until April 2024, the fully expendable Delta IV Heavy, could deliver 14.2 t (31,000 lb) to GTO.

[3] At an appearance in May 2004 before the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Musk testified, "Long term plans call for development of a heavy lift product and even a super-heavy, if there is customer demand.

It was not confirmed at the time when the first Intelsat launch would occur, but the agreement had SpaceX delivering satellites to geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO).

[194] Similarly to the Intelsat 35e case, another satellite from this contract, Inmarsat 5-F4, was switched to a Falcon 9 Full Thrust due to the increased liftoff capacity.

[195] In December 2012, SpaceX announced its first Falcon Heavy launch contract with the United States Department of Defense (DoD).

The United States Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center awarded SpaceX two Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV)-class missions, including the Space Test Program 2 (STP-2) mission for Falcon Heavy, originally scheduled to be launched in March 2017,[196][197] to be placed at a near circular orbit at an altitude of 700 km (430 mi), with an inclination of 70.0°.

[198] In April 2015, SpaceX sent the U.S. Air Force an updated letter of intent outlining a certification process for its Falcon Heavy rocket to launch national security satellites.

[203] The Air Force Research Laboratory's Demonstration and Science Experiments (DSX) has a mass of 500 kg (1,100 lb) and will measure the effects of very low frequency radio waves on space radiation.

Other small satellites included Prox 1, built by Georgia Tech students to test a 3D-printed thruster and a miniaturized gyroscope, LightSail by The Planetary Society,[121] Oculus-ASR nanosatellite from Michigan Tech,[129] and CubeSats from the U.S. Air Force Academy, the Naval Postgraduate School, the United States Naval Research Laboratory, the University of Texas at Austin, California Polytechnic State University, and a CubeSat assembled by students at Merritt Island High School in Florida.

The proposed science objectives were to detect biosignatures and to drill 1 m (3.3 ft) or so underground, in an effort to sample reservoirs of water ice known to exist under the surface.

[206] SpaceX 2015 estimation was 2,000–4,000 kg (4,400–8,800 lb) to the surface of Mars, with a soft retropropulsive landing following a limited atmospheric deceleration using a parachute and heat shield.

[208] Falcon Heavy is the launch vehicle for the initial modules of the Lunar Gateway: Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO).

[211] In March 2020, Falcon Heavy won the first award to a resupply mission to the Lunar Gateway, placing a new Dragon XL spacecraft on a translunar injection orbit.

However, due to extensive delays, in 2021 NASA awarded the launch contract to SpaceX for a fully expendable Falcon Heavy.