SpaceX is set to launch its Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, April 27, carrying the ViaSat-3 F3 communications satellite on a mission that will add another major broadband spacecraft to orbit. The launch window opens at 10:21 a.m. EDT and lasts 85 minutes.
The flight comes with the rocket's two side boosters expected to land at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station about eight minutes after liftoff, while the central booster is not expected to be recovered and will fall into the Atlantic Ocean. The upper stage is due to deploy ViaSat-3 F3 into geosynchronous transfer orbit about five hours after launch.
Falcon Heavy is SpaceX's brawny rocket and the second-most-powerful launcher in operation today, producing about 5.1 million pounds of thrust at liftoff from three modified first stages of the Falcon 9. It first flew in February 2018 and last launched in October 2024, when it sent NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft toward the Jupiter system.
ViaSat-3 F3 is a 6.6-ton, or 6 metric-ton, satellite headed to geostationary orbit 22,236 miles, or 35,786 kilometers, above Earth. Once in place, it is meant to provide high-throughput broadband service to customers throughout the Asia-Pacific region and will become the third ViaSat-3 satellite to reach orbit.
The launch also adds another chapter to a program that already has two spacecraft in space. ViaSat-3 F1 lifted off on a Falcon Heavy in April 2023, while ViaSat-3 F2 launched on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V in November 2025. F1 currently provides service to customers aboard airliners, and F2 is expected to serve people in the Americas when it comes online next month.
Dave Abrahamian said the mission marks a pivotal moment in the company's effort to bring fast, secure and reliable high-capacity broadband to commercial, defense and consumer customers. The flight will round out the ViaSat-3 mini-constellation, but much of its value depends on whether the satellite reaches its target orbit and begins service on schedule.
