Elon Musk Shares Time Lapse Of SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket

SpaceX’s launch of the massive Falcon Heavy rocket has been much anticipated for months now. The rocket was originally on schedule for a November launch, then December, and now it’s looking like it might finally launch in January.

The rocket is incredibly large and if it actually launches will be the most powerful rocket on Earth. It’s starting to look like the launch might actually happen too. Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and founder, has been using Twitter to update eager onlookers about the launch timeline.

Thursday night he posted videos of the rocket going vertical on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center, and of the rocket standing upright towering over it surroundings.

The timelapse of the rocket going vertical shows clouds overhead flying by as the rocket slowly goes from a horizontal position on the ground to standing upright.

A second video of the rocket standing tall shows it from the perspective of a drone high in the sky, this video was shared earlier in the week by SpaceX.

There’s no exact date set yet for the rocket to launch but it’s expected to happen sometime in January. It’s unclear whether onlookers will be able to view the launch from the center, “ Availability of viewing opportunities and locations is dependent upon the scheduled launch time and is subject to NASA and U.S. Air Force approval,” the KSC website says.

The first stage of the rocket is made up of three Falcon 9 SpaceX rockets, with 27 Merlin engines it offers more than five million pounds of thrust. Musk said that the rocket will be carrying his first Tesla Roadster to Mars orbit, or at least that’s the plan. If the rocket and the car both make it to Mars, the car will stay in orbit there for roughly one billion years.

Musk and SpaceX released photos of the rocket on the launch pad in previous weeks but the videos Musk and SpaceX tweeted were the first close up video look at the rocket that was available.