SpaceX now at top of Reusable, Heavy Lift, Rocket, Class.

SpaceX's inaugural Falcon Heavy launch succeeds, putting CEO Elon Musk at the front of the rocket race

Success was never a certainty for Falcon Heavy's maiden flight, as Musk noted previously that a "lot can go wrong" during a first attempt. The first few minutes of the launch were the most critical, as Musk said that once the rocket was beyond the Earth's atmosphere and the upper stage deploys then SpaceX would be "in very well-known territory."

 From article, (Elon Musk took one giant leap to the front of the space industry on Tuesday.

Falcon Heavy became the most powerful commercial rocket in the world after SpaceX successfully completed its first launch of the behemoth from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The launch was the most ambitious yet for Musk's space company, putting SpaceX at the top of a short list of available heavy lift rockets. Falcon Heavy is both more powerful and capable of lifting more weight than the biggest rockets offered by either United Launch Alliance (a Boeing and Lockheed Martin joint venture) or Arianespace – at a fraction of the cost.

"This is, in many ways, the most significant launch since the first shuttle launch nearly four decades ago," prominent space investor Dylan Taylor told CNBC.

Standing more than 21 stories tall, Falcon Heavy flew unmanned for its demonstration launch. SpaceX may no longer send astronauts atop Falcon Heavy, as the company previously planned. Musk told reporters on a conference call the day before the launch that development of the BFR (Big Falcon Rocket) is "coming along quickly."

If BFR is successful, Musk said that rocket would carry astronauts instead of Falcon Heavy. But that may change again, as Musk noted that delays on BFR would mean the return of putting SpaceX's crewed Dragon capsule back on top of Falcon Heavy.

When speculating on what would come after a successful test flight, Musk said that SpaceX "would be ready to do another Falcon Heavy flight pretty soon," and added that it could be as quickly as 3 to 6 months away. The second Falcon Heavy launch would carry a commercial payload, Musk said.)

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