A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will launch the Jupiter 3 communications satellite into orbit on July 28, 2023. (Image credit: SpaceX)

It was the seventh ascent of the powerful rocket.

SpaceX's mighty Falcon Heavy rocket launched for the seventh time on Friday night (July 28), sending a massive communications satellite skyward.

Falcon Heavy launched at 23:04 on Friday. EDT (0304 GMT July 29) at Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, carrying the Jupiter 3 satellite into the sky.

The launch marked the beginning of a record-breaking mission: Jupiter 3 is the largest commercial communications satellite ever built, according to its operator, Hughes Network Systems.

Falcon Heavy side boosters returning to Earth pic.twitter.com/jeOAaGSCoU
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 29, 2023

The Falcon Heavy is the second most powerful rocket flying today, after NASA's Space Launch System rocket, which debuted on the agency's Artemis 1 moon mission in November. (SpaceX's Starship vehicle is more powerful than the SLS, but not yet operational.)

The Heavy consists of the three first stages of the company's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, joined together, with an upper stage and a payload on top of the middle booster.

Those first stages are designed to be reusable, and two of Friday's launches can fly again: SpaceX landed the side boosters about 7.5 minutes after liftoff at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, which is next to KSC. However, the center booster did not have enough fuel left for the return trip and crashed in the ocean after takeoff.

That last detail speaks to Jupiter 3's sheer size and how far it's headed—to geostationary orbit (GEO), about 22,200 miles (35,700 kilometers) above Earth. Built by Maxar Technologies, which serves customers in the United States and Latin America, the satellite was deployed as planned about 3.5 hours after liftoff, SpaceX confirmed on social media. Jupiter 3 weighs 10.1 tons (9.2 tonnes), making it heavier than any payload ever launched to GEO. A fully operational Jupiter 3 has a wingspan similar to that of a commercial airliner, according to Hughes.

The Falcon Heavy first launched in February 2018, sending Elon Musk's red Tesla Roadster on a highly anticipated and very photogenic test flight. It flew again in April 2019 and June 2019, but then went through a 40-month dry spell, mainly due to delays in the development of the satellites it was supposed to carry.

But Heavy is now gaining momentum. Friday's launch was the rocket's fourth in the past eight months, following launches in November 2022 and launches in January and May of this year.

Jupiter 3 was originally scheduled to lift off on Wednesday evening (July 26), but SpaceX canceled the attempt after violating abort criteria with 65 seconds remaining. The company canceled another scheduled test on Thursday (July 27), citing a desire to "complete vehicle testing."