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Elon Musk wants to launch giant SpaceX Mars rocket Feb. 6

The historic flight of the Falcon Heavy slipped from January. Mars awaits.

Headshot of Jessica Dolcourt
Headshot of Jessica Dolcourt
Jessica Dolcourt VP, Content Operations and Commerce, CNET Group and CNET Labs
Jessica is a passionate content strategist and team leader across the CNET family of brands. She leads a number of teams, including commerce, performance optimization and the copy desk. Her CNET career began in 2006, testing desktop and mobile software for Download.com and CNET, including the first iPhone and Android apps and operating systems. She continued to review, report on and write a wide range of commentary and analysis on all things phones, with an emphasis on the iPhone and Samsung devices. Jessica was one of the first people in the world to test, review and report on foldable phones and 5G wireless speeds. Jessica began her leadership role managing CNET's How To section for tips and FAQs in 2019, guiding coverage of topics ranging from personal finance to phones to home. She holds an MA with Distinction from the University of Warwick in the UK.
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SpaceX

Elon Musk's SpaceX repeatedly missed the promised January launch date of the Falcon Heavy, a massive rocket intended to orbit Mars. Now Musk is hoping the next-generation rocket can fire up its 27 engines Feb. 6, he said in a tweet Saturday.

Musk's post follows a Friday tweet from Chris Gebhardt, assistant managing editor and writer for NASASpaceFlight.com.

Gebhardt added to his initial tweet with a second saying that Feb. 6 is the earliest possible date for Falcon Heavy lift-off, subject to more slipping, especially if Musk's company pushes back the launch date of another of its rockets, a Falcon 9.

The Falcon Heavy rocket is set to carry a payload of Musk's own cherry red Tesla Roadster and play David Bowie's song "Space Oddity."

Read more: Falcon Heavy finally fires up for the first time

First published Jan. 26, 1:34 p.m. PT
Update, Jan. 27 at 2:56 p.m.: Adds Musk's Saturday tweet and reworks story to account for that.