Wednesday, April 29, 2026

SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket Side Booster Landings: ViaSat-3 F3 Satellite Launch

SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket Side Booster Landings: ViaSat-3 F3 Satellite Launch


Watch Falcon Heavy’s twin side boosters land on LZ-2 and LZ-40 in rapid succession after stage separation. A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launched the ViaSat-3 F3 Mission on Wednesday morning, April 29, 2026, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida.


The Falcon Heavy rocket reduces time to orbit by delivering the satellite to a more favorable transfer orbit where this satellite’s electric propulsion will take over to place ViaSat-3 F3 into a geostationary orbit. Following launch, the ViaSat-3 F3 satellite will spend several months traveling to geostationary orbit before arriving at its reserved orbital slot. It will go through rigorous in-orbit testing of the bus and payload before entering service, expected to occur by late summer 2026. ViaSat-3 satellites are each designed to provide regional coverage with ViaSat-3 F3 expected to cover the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

One of the side boosters on this mission previously supported SDA-0A, SARah-2, Transporter-11, and 18 Starlink missions, and the second previously supported launch of the GOES-U mission. Falcon Heavy’s two side boosters landed on SpaceX’s Landing Zones 2 and 40 (LZ-2 and LZ-40) at Cape Canaveral in Florida.


Video Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)
Duration: 29 seconds 
Date: April 29, 2026

#NASA #Space #CommercialSpace #SpaceX #SpaceXFalconHeavy #HeavyLiftRockets #ReusableRockets #Satellites #CommunicationSatellites #ViaSat #ViaSat3F3Mission #NASAKennedy #KSC #MerrittIsland #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video
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