Falcon Heavy Returns to Flight After 18 Months — ViaSat-3 F3 Delivered to GTO; Twin RTLS Marks 604th–605th Booster Landings

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy lifted off at 10:13 a.m. EDT (14:13 UTC) on April 29, 2026 from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, marking the rocket's first launch since the Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter in October 2024 — an 18-month return-to-flight driven by a gap in heavy GTO payload demand. The triple-core heavy-lift vehicle carried the 6.6-metric-ton ViaSat-3 F3 satellite — the third and final spacecraft in Viasat's high-throughput broadband constellation — to geosynchronous transfer orbit roughly five hours after liftoff, completing Asia-Pacific coverage for the $3 billion ViaSat-3 system. Both Falcon Heavy side boosters performed simultaneous twin Return-to-Launch-Site landings at Cape Canaveral approximately eight minutes post-liftoff: B1072 (2nd FH side core flight) at Landing Zone 2 and B1075 (22nd combined flight) at the newly inaugurated Landing Zone 40 — marking the 604th and 605th cumulative Falcon booster recoveries in SpaceX history. Center core B1098 was intentionally expended into the Atlantic Ocean per the mission profile. This was the 12th-ever Falcon Heavy launch and SpaceX's 52nd orbital mission of 2026.