Falcon Heavy Ascent

The photograph

Kennedy Space Center, Launch Complex 39A, 6 February 2018. Demo Flight 1, photographed by NASA’s Kim Shiflett. Falcon Heavy climbs on three cores, 27 Merlin engines, about five million pounds of thrust. Condensation frost on the stack, white-hot plume against a dark slate sky. Two side boosters later landed back at the Cape; the center core missed the drone ship.

Taken from Earth · Kennedy Space Center. 1 AU.

The mission

SpaceX Falcon Heavy · Demo Flight 1

This was the first flight of Falcon Heavy, then the most powerful rocket flying. The point was to prove the vehicle: three cores lighting together, booster recovery, a payload to a heliocentric orbit that reaches as far as Mars. The dummy cargo was Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster, permanently attached to the upper stage, with a mannequin in a SpaceX suit in the driver’s seat. NASA photographed the liftoff from its own pad.

The metal

Dye-infused into aluminum. A hidden float mount sits the panel ½ in off the wall.

Shipping

Printed to order. Packed rigid, ships in 5–8 days. Free freight over $250.