SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch seen from space (satellite photos)

One of BlackSky's Gen-3 Earth-observing satellites captured this photo of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launching on April 29, 2026. (Image credit: BlackSky) SpaceX's powerful Falcon Heavy rocket flew for the first time in 18 months on Wednesday (April 29), and a sharp-eyed satellite was watching. The Falcon Heavy launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, carrying the ViaSat-3 F3 communications satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit. One of BlackSky's Gen-3 Earth-observing spacecraft chronicled the liftoff, snapping a stunning shot of the powerful rocket on the pad and another one showing it climbing in the cloudy Florida skies. A BlackSky Gen-3 satellite captured this photo of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket on the pad at Kennedy Space Center on April 29, 2026. (Image credit: BlackSky) "At 07:29 local time, Gen-3 captured an extreme off-nadir twilight shot of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on the pad before again catching the vehicle in flight at 10:13, 38 seconds after launch, as it was traveling more than 400 miles per hour," BlackSky wrote in a Wednesday X post that shared the images. "With time-diverse imaging capabilities and flexible imaging modes, Gen-3 sees relevant activity at all hours of the day." BlackSky is building out its Gen-3 constellation in low Earth orbit , having launched four of the spacecraft to date. The satellites are capable of resolving features as small as 13.8 inches (35 centimeters) on the ground below, according to BlackSky . …