SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket was first launched in 2018, when SpaceX boss Elon Musk sent his Tesla sports car into space as a test payload in order to demonstrate the rocket's capabilities, leaving the world stunned. The sports car is still flying around the sun in space, and I don't know if it has encountered aliens.
Although SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket is powerful, it does not have many launches, because most space missions do not require such a large amount of firepower, and the Falcon 9 rocket is enough.
Therefore, after 2018, the Falcon Heavy rocket was launched twice, both in 2019, and then disappeared for three years, until November 2022, it reappeared and launched the USSF-44 mission of the US Air Force, which was its first time serving the United States and its fourth flight.
And now, SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket is going to be launched again, and it is still serving the United States, this time the mission is called USSF-67, which is expected to be launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, on December 7, 2023. The most special thing about this mission is that the payload it will launch is the X-37B space plane of the United States.
The X-37B space plane of the United States is an unmanned small space shuttle that can stay in space for a long time, perform various classified missions, and then return to Earth and land on the runway, just like an ordinary airplane. It looks a bit like a smaller version of the American Space Shuttle, but it's only a quarter the size of the Space Shuttle, about the size of a truck, and weighs only about 5 tons, which is equivalent to the weight of a small car.
The U.S. X-37B space plane has flown six times, each time using the United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rocket or SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, and each time it stayed in space for a long time, the longest time was in space for 780 days, that is, more than two years, which is very rare in space vehicles. What it has done in space, the US side has never revealed, but only said that it has carried out some experiments and tests, and only God knows what they are.
And this time, the X-37B space plane of the United States will be launched using SpaceX's Falcon He**Y rocket, which is the first time it has used a heavy rocket, and it is also the second time that SpaceX's Falcon He**Y rocket has served the United States, which is a big change and has also attracted a lot of attention. Why did the U.S. X-37B space plane be launched using SpaceX's Falcon He**Y rocket?What is it going to do in space this time?
Some people speculate that it may be because the X-37B space plane of the United States is going to carry more payload this time, or it is going to a higher orbit, so it needs more firepower, and SpaceX's Falcon He**Y rocket can provide such capabilities.
There is also speculation that it may be because the US side wants to test the performance of SpaceX's Falcon He**Y rocket, or wants to give SpaceX more commercial opportunities, so it gave it more contracts. Of course, these are just speculations, and no one can be sure of the true intentions of the US side.