SpaceX Falcon Heavy Poised for Liftoff with Viasat-3 F3 Comsat – Until Last Second Weather Scrubs Launch Double Header: Photos

SpaceX Falcon Heavy with Viasat-3 F3 comsat payload and venting liquid oxygen and fully fueled and vertical scrubbed for poor weather at Launch Complex-39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center on April 27, 2026. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL –  We were all excited for the potential of a rare, combined SpaceX and ULA  launch double header on Florida’s Space Coast on Monday, April 27 – until poor weather intervened and scrubbed the liftoff of the first of the day namely the Falcon Heavy Monday morning as rain, winds and thunder rolled into the Kennedy Space Center and Launch Complex 39.

SpaceX was targeting liftoff of the triple core Falcon Heavy for 10:21 a.m. ET from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida – carrying the six-ton Viasat-3 F3 next gen comsat to geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO)

SpaceX Falcon Heavy with Viasat-3 F3 comsat payload standing and vertical at Launch Complex-39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center on April 27, 2026 after scrub. Next target April 29, 2026. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com

The team had 85 minutes long  window – but decided to GO for the opening of the launch window

Despite the long odds SpaceX launch team counted down almost to the end and ultimately scrubbed the Falcon Heavy launch with about 29 seconds to T-zero

SpaceX Falcon Heavy with Viasat-3 F3 comsat payload resting horizontal at Launch Complex-39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center on April 27, 2026. Next target April 29, 2026. Credit: Jean Wright/SpaceUpClose.com

This launch counts as the first Falcon Heavy mission since Oct. 2024 on NASAs Europa Clipper science mission

SpaceX Falcon Heavy with Viasat-3 F3 comsat payload resting horizontal at Launch Complex-39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center on April 27, 2026. Next target April 29, 2026. Credit: Jean Wright/SpaceUpClose.com

Overall this flight will be the 12th Falcon Heavy launch.

After the scrub we media reset our remote cameras.

SpaceX Falcon Heavy with Viasat-3 F3 comsat payload resting horizontal at Launch Complex-39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center on April 27, 2026. Next target April 29, 2026. Credit: Jean Wright/SpaceUpClose.com

SpaceX ultimately delayed the liftoff to Wed. April 29 to make way for the off loading of NASAs Artemis III core stage from the Pegasus barge which arrive at the Turn Basin wharf at the KSC Press Site Monday afternoon.

 

NASA had to safely protect the Artemis III core stage and Pegasus barge – in case there were to be any rocket malfunctions with the Falcon Heavy rockey barely 3 miles away.

NASA’s top four-fifths of the SLS (Space Launch System) core stage for the Artemis III mission is offloaded from the agency’s Pegasus barge on Tuesday, April 28, 2026, after arriving at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida the prior day. Artemis III will launch astronauts to Earth’s orbit aboard the Orion spacecraft on top of SLS to test rendezvous and docking capabilities between Orion and commercial spacecraft from SpaceX and or Blue Origin needed to land Artemis IV astronauts on the Moon in 2028.
Credit: Ken Kremer / Spaceupclose.com

The 85-minute launch window opens at 10:13 a.m. ET on April 29.

The triple stick Falcon Heavy generates over 5 million pounds of liftoff thrust

SpaceX Falcon Heavy with Viasat-3 F3 comsat payload resting horizontal at Launch Complex-39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center on April 27, 2026. Next target April 29, 2026. Credit: Jean Wright/SpaceUpClose.com

SpaceX’s live webcast will go live approximately 15 minutes before Falcon Heavy’s liftoff at spacex.com/launches.

Viasat-3 F3 is a powerful 6 metric ton broadband internet commercial communications satellite from Viasat

For the first time the two twin side boosters will land at separate locations – not side by side at LZ-1 and LZ-2 – at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.

 

The LZ-1 property has been turn over and leased by the Space Force to another rocket company for launch operations

 

About eight minutes after liftoff, Falcon Heavy’s side boosters will land on SpaceX’s Landing Zone 2 (LZ-2) and Landing Zone 40 (LZ-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.

SpaceX Falcon Heavy with Viasat-3 F3 comsat payload resting horizontal at Launch Complex-39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center on April 27, 2026. Next target April 29, 2026. Credit: Jean Wright/SpaceUpClose.com

There is the possibility that residents of Brevard, Orange, Osceola, Indian River, Seminole, Volusia, Polk, St. Lucie, and Okeechobee County counties may hear one or more sonic booms during the landing, but what residents experience will depend on weather and other conditions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SpaceX Falcon Heavy with Viasat-3 F3 comsat payload resting horizontal at Launch Complex-39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center on April 27, 2026. Next target April 29, 2026. Credit: Jean Wright/SpaceUpClose.com

Jean Wright poses with the lucky launch trolls Astrolina & Nebulina & SpaceX Falcon Heavy – resting horizontal at launch complex 39A during our remote camera setup at NASAs Kennedy Space Center on April 27, 2026. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com

 

Ken Kremer of Space UpClose setting up remote cameras for SpaceX Falcon Viasat-3 F3 launch from Launch Complex-39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center on April 27, 2026. Credit: Jean Wright/SpaceUpClose.com

 

Jean Wright and Ken Kremer pose with SpaceX Falcon Heavy – resting horizontal at launch complex 39A during our remote camera setup at NASAs Kennedy Space Center on April 27, 2026. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com

 

Ken Kremer of Space UpClose setting up remote cameras for SpaceX Falcon Viasat-3 F3 launch from Launch Complex-39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center on April 27, 2026. Credit: Jean Wright/SpaceUpClose.com

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Ken Kremer

Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news. Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area, active in outreach and interviewed regularly on TV and radio about space topics. Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events.

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