What people are saying around the Space Industry about the Falcon Heavy Test Launch

SpaceX does it for the first time again: Falcon Heavy sends a Tesla to deep space

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - It isn't often a test flight goes almost flawlessly-what space people quietly call "nominal." Yet, SpaceX made history again on Feb. 6, 2018, after successfully launching its super heavy-lift rocket, the Falcon Heavy , for the very first time.

From article, (While SpaceX employees cheered over the live feed from Hawthorne, California, John Insprucker, SpaceX’s principal integration engineer, said the mission provided “everything you could want for a test flight.”

SpaceX’s own news feed noted that “Falcon Heavy draws upon the proven heritage and reliability of Falcon 9. Its first stage is composed of three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft. Only the Saturn V moon rocket, last flown in 1973, delivered more payload to orbit. Falcon Heavy was designed from the outset to carry humans into space and restores the possibility of flying missions with crew to the Moon or Mars.”

Buzz Aldrin, whose mission lifted off from Launch Complex 39A in 1969, sent his regards:

“It’s a beautiful day for a rocket launch from my favorite launchpad.”

Amazon.com founder and SpaceX rival CEO of Blue Origin Jeff Bezos wished the flight well:

Best of luck @SpaceX with the Falcon Heavy launch tomorrow – hoping for a beautiful, nominal flight!

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, in response to a Twitter follower who asked, “Would you do another space flight with a SpaceX Rocket?” answered simply, “Yes.”
Andrew Gasser, President of the Tea Party in Space, told Spaceflight Insider:

“This is a game changer that proves the limited government, public-private partnership using the American free market system really works. February 6th, 2018 is a day where everyone who is in the space industry will remember where they were when they witnessed Falcon Heavy opening up the infinite economy to all of us.”

Robert Zubrin, president of the Mars Society said:

“Today SpaceX achieved a spectacular and historic success. Seven years ago, the Augustine commission said that NASA’s Moon program had to be cancelled because the development of the necessary heavy lift booster would take 12 years and 36 billion dollars. SpaceX has now done that, on its own dime, in half the time and a twentieth of the cost. And not only that, but the launch vehicle is three quarters reusable. This is a revolution. The naysayers have been completely refuted. The Moon is now within reach. Mars is now within reach. The moment is at hand to open the space frontier. America should seize the time.”

Having proven itself on its first flight, the next question becomes: who will Falcon Heavy’s customers be in the marketplace? While Musk has talked in depth about making humanity a multi-planet species, are there any actual customers for the rocket today?
In fact, there are. SpaceX currently has five customers on its launch manifest for Falcon Heavy, including Arabsat 6A, Inmarsat, the U.S. Air Force STP-2, and Viasat.
Presumably the Department of Defense and some of the larger satellite producers like Intelsat might have use for very large launchers. And with the Space Launch System still nearly 2.5 years away from its first launch, scientists looking to send payloads to the outer solar system might now have a quicker option.
Of course Musk has said he wants to replace the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy with his Interplanetary Transport System (also called the “BFR”). However, that might be getting a little ahead of the game, given the size of the BFR. SpaceX also needs to do further testing on the Raptor engine, which will be able to produce 683,433 pounds (3,040 kilonewtons) of thrust with a single engine.)

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