SpaceX Testing New Heavy Lift System

From SpaceXhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif via Boing Boing is news on SpaceX's new heavy lifting system, The Falcon Heavy which according to the website:

• (is)the world’s most powerful rocket. (The Falcon Heavy has) the ability to carry satellites or interplanetary spacecraft weighing over 53 metric tons (117,000 lb) to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Falcon Heavy can lift nearly twice the payload of the next closest vehicle, the US Space Shuttle, and more than twice the payload of the Delta IV Heavy.

The Falcon Heavy develops over 3.8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. To put that into perspective: that kind of thrust is equal to fifteen Boeing 747 aircraft at full power. That makes it one of the most powerful rockets since Apollo's Saturn 5 main stage.

(I KNOW! Saturn 5 WAS the main stage! But lets be honest, when most people see the whole Saturn stack they think Saturn 5! I know...Saturn 3 was the next stage and Saturn 1 was what pushed the "Luna stack" towards Luna insertion. I just KNOW some of you rocket jocks would call me on that if I hadn't said something! lol)

Check out the SpaceX page here