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Watch SpaceX's Falcon Heavy launch Elon Musk's Tesla here

Elon Musk will attempt to send his red Tesla Roadster into space. The targeted time for launch has been delayed to 12:45 p.m. PT.

Eric Mack Contributing Editor
Eric Mack has been a CNET contributor since 2011. Eric and his family live 100% energy and water independent on his off-grid compound in the New Mexico desert. Eric uses his passion for writing about energy, renewables, science and climate to bring educational content to life on topics around the solar panel and deregulated energy industries. Eric helps consumers by demystifying solar, battery, renewable energy, energy choice concepts, and also reviews solar installers. Previously, Eric covered space, science, climate change and all things futuristic. His encrypted email for tips is ericcmack@protonmail.com.
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Eric Mack
2 min read
heavy1

Falcon Heavy conducted its first static test fire at Kennedy Space Center.

Video screenshot by Eric Mack/CNET

Update, Feb. 6, 10:47 a.m.: The launch of Falcon Heavy has been postponed to 12:45 p.m. PT due to continued high-level winds. Tuesday's launch window closes at 1 p.m. PT.

SpaceX finally has an official launch window for the demonstration blastoff of its long-awaited Falcon Heavy rocket, the most powerful since the mighty Saturn V that carried Apollo astronauts to the moon. 

The Federal Aviation Administration gave its official blessing to the launch when it issued a license to SpaceX on Friday for "A flight of the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) transporting the modified Tesla Roadster (mass simulator) to a hyperbolic orbit."

That's right. The federal government has just granted Elon Musk permission to send his electric sports car into space. 

SpaceX confirmed in a release on Saturday that it's targeting the launch for Tuesday during a two-and-a-half hour window that begins at 10:30 a.m. PT. If all goes perfectly, Falcon Heavy will fire up its 27 Merlin engines at that time, but all launches, especially a demonstration launch like this one, are subject to delays.

The launch will be steeped in history and symbolism: It will take place from the same launchpad that NASA used for Apollo 11 to send Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the moon. Musk views Falcon Heavy as a key stepping-stone to returning humans to destinations beyond orbit, including the moon and Mars

But Musk on multiple occasions has also attempted to lower expectations for Falcon Heavy's first launch, warning that it may end in spectacular, but explosive failure.

If Musk's Roadster and Falcon Heavy do survive liftoff and the journey out of Earth's gravity well, we could be treated to another sort of spectacle: SpaceX's first attempt at landing three first-stage rocket boosters nearly simultaneously. 

Falcon Heavy is basically three Falcon 9 rockets strapped together and topped with a second stage rocket and the payload. The two side boosters will attempt to land ashore at SpaceX's Landing Zones 1 and 2 (LZ-1 & LZ-2) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, while the center booster is set to land on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You in the Atlantic.

As if all that weren't enough excitement, the landing attempts could be accompanied by up to three sonic booms that SpaceX warns may be heard across a six-county area in Florida. 

As of Saturday, weather was looking about 80 percent favorable for the launch on Tuesday and slightly less favorable should it slip to the backup launch window on Wednesday.

SpaceX typically streams all of its launches live online. Once the feed is up, we'll embed it above, so keep checking back.

First published Feb. 4, 9:39 a.m. PT.
Update, Feb. 6, 9:02 a.m. PT: Added embedded live video of the launch attempt. 

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