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Keith’s note: This morning SpaceX conducted a perfect launch of a Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center amidst some rather heavy fog. Its side boosters did perfect landings. Its payload is in GEO. Meanwhile SLS still sits in the barn. More.
Biologist, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Biologist and Payload integrator, Editor of NASAWatch.com and Astrobiology.com, Lapsed climber, Explorer, Synaesthete, Former Challenger Center board member... More by Keith Cowing
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Also there was the Falcon Heavy launch for USSF, last one was three years ago. Maybe there are not many customers for heavy lift launch services except occasional US govt.
This article nicely addresses what you mentioned.
https://arstechnica.com/sci…
SpaceX basically stole their own market. There is a sizable market for payloads too large for the original Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy was designed for that. But upgrades have made the Falcon 9 Block 5 much more capable than the original Falcon 9, so there aren’t many launches left which require a Falcon Heavy.
In Aviation, we would call the SLS a “Hangar Queen”.