The Space Stuff thread

The Federal Aviation Administration has approved a launch license for SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket set for blastoff Tuesday, giving the U.S. government’s regulatory green light for the heavy-lifter to dispatch Elon Musk’s used electric sports car on a one-way trip into deep space.

Dated Feb. 2, the FAA launch license clears a final regulatory hurdle for the Falcon Heavy’s test launch from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The launch window Tuesday opens at 1:30 p.m. EST (1830 GMT) and extends until 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT).

The official weather forecast issued Sunday by the U.S. Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron predicts an 80 percent chance of favorable conditions during Tuesday’s launch window.

“On Tuesday, winds will become easterly at 15 mph, bringing a few low-level clouds in off the water,” forecasters wrote in Sunday’s outlook. “The main weather concerns are liftoff winds and thick clouds. Maximum upper-level winds will be from the west at 90 knots near 40,000 feet.”

Made up of three rocket boosters derived from SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launcher, the triple-core Falcon Heavy will produce more thrust than any rocket currently flying, and the most by any vehicle since the space shuttle.

The commercial launch license approved by the FAA gives SpaceX authorization to launch the Falcon Heavy rocket “transporting the modified Tesla Roadster (mass simulator) to a hyperbolic orbit.”

SpaceX plans to boost the electric car with enough speed to escape the bonds of Earth’s gravity, steering the Roadster on a “hyperbolic” trajectory away from the planet into a heliocentric orbit around the sun. The orbit will take the automobile as far as the distance of Mars.

The Tesla Roadster weighs about 2,760 pounds (1,250 kilograms), measures nearly 13 feet (3.9 meters) long and spans about 5.7 feet (1.7 meters) wide, according to Car and Driver magazine.

Photos of the Tesla Roadster released by SpaceX show it dwarfed by the size of the launcher’s clamshell-like payload shroud, which extends 43 feet (13.1 meters) tall and 17 feet (5.2 meters) in diameter.

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The launch window Tuesday opens at 1:30 p.m. EST (1830 GMT) and extends until 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT). Check about 1pm to see if video is running.

Video is on and live; T- 19:00