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Space X - The Biggest Rocket since the Saturn V
SpaceX is poised to take a giant leap with the biggest rocket since the Saturn V carried men to the moon, and it could blast off by early 2013.
Elon Musk’s private space startup announced Tuesday that the 22-story Falcon Heavy will carry more than 117,000 pounds into low Earth orbit, giving it twice the lift capability of the space shuttle or the Delta IV heavy rocket built by Boeing–Lockheed Martin. Musk says it’ll be far cheaper, too.
“It’s more capability than any vehicle in history apart from the Saturn V,” Musk told reporters. “It opens up a range of possibilities for government and commercial space missions that simply aren’t present with the current lifting capacity.”
Musk, the CEO of Space Exploration Technologies, says the first launch will happen soon after the Falcon Heavy arrives at the company’s launch complex at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, late next year.
He estimates launching the 227-foot-tall rocket at $80 to $125 million, less than one-third the cost of the Delta IV and roughly one-tenth that of the space shuttle. If SpaceX stays within that cost, the Falcon Heavy will deliver payloads at the $1,000-per-pound benchmark long sought by the space industry.
READ MORE: Wired.com
