In a historic first, SpaceX has launched its long-awaited Falcon Heavy rocket and landed its two side boosters on land.
It's a feat the Hawthorne, California, space company hopes will lead to increased commercial and national security missions.
The company said it was still waiting on news about the landing of its centre core booster, which was set to land on a floating platform at sea.
The launch occurred at 3.45pm Eastern time (7.45am on Wednesday AEDT) from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A, the same Florida launch pad where the Saturn V rocket lifted off to take astronauts to the moon. The launch was delayed several times Tuesday to wait out high upper-atmosphere winds.
After liftoff, SpaceX attempted to land all three of Falcon Heavy's boosters back on the Earth - two on land and one on a floating platform at sea. SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk has described the attempt as "synchronised aerial ballet". About 8 minutes after liftoff, the two side boosters landed simultaneously on land.
The test payload for this demonstration mission is Musk's midnight cherry Tesla Roadster, which will be launched toward Mars.
Watch the video here:
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