Elon Musk reveals SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch animation, and it's amazing
We're only about four months away from the first SpaceX launch of the most powerful rocket ship on the planet, the Falcon Heavy, and now we have an idea of what that'll look like.
In a post on his Instagram page on Friday, SpaceX founder Elon Musk showed off an animation that shows exactly how he hopes the launch of the massive spacecraft will come off. The animation appears to be a clip from a longer video released earlier.
There's no dramatic music or special effects. Those aren't needed -- the process alone is amazing enough. First we see the Falcon Heavy liftoff, and soon after its two booster rockets separate and return to Earth in controlled landings, intact and ready to be prepared for future missions.
Next, we return to space, where the center core then separates from the main module and begins its controlled descent back to Earth as well. It's really quite beautiful, and if the real thing goes off without a hitch as shown in this video, the profile of SpaceX and Musk will rise even higher.
Remember, Falcon Heavy is the spacecraft Musk designed to carry humans to the moon and Mars, so if the first few test launches are successful, there will be a lot of excitement around the possibilities for manned missions using the Falcon Heavy in coming years.
But Musk is aware that this is an incredibly difficult feat he's trying to pull off, fraught with significant risks.
"[Falcon Heavy] is twice the thrust of the next largest rocket currently flying and ~2/3 thrust of the Saturn V moon rocket," said Musk on Instagram. "Lot that can go wrong in the November launch…"
UPDATE: Aug. 7, 2017, 1:02 p.m. EDT This story was updated to include context that the animation is a clip from a longer, previously-released video showing off the launch.
