SpaceX Falcon Heavy seen from space waiting on launch pad (photos)

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Maxar Technologies snapped photos of Falcon Heavy before it launches their largest satellite ever.

A high-altitude aerial view of SpaceX's triple-booster Falcon Heavy rocket can be seen standing in the center of the wide landscaped launch complex. Roads, pipes and other infrastructure extend outward from the rocket and adjacent launch tower.
A Maxar satellite image of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket standing on its launch pad at Kennedy Space Center taken on July 26. (Image credit: Maxar Technologies)

Before SpaceX's Falcon Heavy made its seventh flight to space, space decided to send some Falcon Heavy to Earth. 

In photographs beamed back from one of Maxar Technologies' imaging satellites, SpaceX's heavy-lift Falcon Heavy rocket can be seen standing at Launch Complex-39A, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 

SpaceX was poised to launch Falcon Heavy Wednesday (July 26) night, but that try was scrubbed barely a minute before liftoff. The company also nixed another planned attempt on Thursday night (July 27). The current target is Friday (July 28), during a 99-minute window that opens at 11:04 p.m. EDT (0304 GMT on July 29).

The rocket's payload, the Jupiter 3 communications satellite, will join the Hughes Jupiter fleet, which provides communications services to North and South America.

Related: SpaceX scrubs record-breaking Falcon Heavy rocket launch (video)

Jupiter 3 is the largest commercial communication satellite ever, built by Maxar Technologies. Maxar designs and manufactures satellites and other components for spacecraft, and has 285 satellites in orbit, according to the company's website. 

Image taken at 11:57 a.m. EDT (1557 GMT), July 26, of Falcon Heavy rocket standing at LC-39A. (Image credit: Maxar Technologies)

Wednesday morning, before the first launch attempt, Maxar posted images of Falcon Heavy via the company's social media accounts. 

Image taken at 11:57 a.m. EDT (1557 GMT), July 26, of Falcon Heavy rocket standing at LC-39A. (Image credit: Maxar Technologies)
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The pictures were taken using another one of Maxar's satellites, already in orbit. They show Falcon Heavy standing on the launchpad from three different angles and altitudes, and serve as a visual reminder for the enormous size of Falcon Heavy and also the power and capability of the satellites we send to space to gaze back at our planet.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 5:25 p.m. EDT on July 27 with the new target launch date of July 28.

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Josh Dinner
Josh Dinner
Writer, Content Manager

Josh Dinner is Space.com's Content Manager. He is a writer and photographer with a passion for science and space exploration, and has been working the space beat since 2016. Josh has covered the evolution of NASA's commercial spaceflight partnerships, from early Dragon and Cygnus cargo missions to the ongoing development and launches of crewed missions from the Space Coast, as well as NASA science missions and more. He also enjoys building 1:144 scale models of rockets and human-flown spacecraft. Find some of Josh's launch photography on Instagram and his website, and follow him on Twitter, where he mostly posts in haiku.