SpaceX launches Falcon Heavy, the world's most powerful operational rocket

SpaceX's powerful Falcon Heavy rocket lifted off Tuesday morning from Florida on a secret national security mission for the Space Force known as USSF-44.

Despite thick fog around Pad 39A, the tri-core rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at 9:41 a.m. EDT before landing with its two side boosters at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Falcon Heavy, the world's most powerful operational rocket, was built by Elon Musk's SpaceX as a springboard to establish a colony on Mars.