Falcon Heavy

The big bird has flown. All the way to GEO.

I missed the launch stream but I did review the highlight-reel maybe thirty minutes late. If you were checking out the runup to this launch, you know it was ambitious for the parameters. Direct-to-GEO is a major win for SpaceX especially given Merlin's kerosene/oxygen. If our government has any brain at all, SpaceX should be good for the SuperHeavy / Starship test later this month or next month.

Note there is still no successful retrieval of the central Falcon Heavy rocket. (The side-boosters are back in South Padre, chilling with margaritas.) It happens this mission was government-sponsored, so the client agreed to expend that core and to accept the charges for its loss. Personally I'd be interested in a core retrieval just so more heavy-lifting can be economical - read, privately-funded.