SpaceX will try to make history anew later this summer when it tries to land the first-stage booster of its massive Falcon Heavy launch vehicle for the first time. This flight will be the first flight for Falcon Heavy.

Since the Falcon Heavy's first-stage consists of a core booster and two strap-on boosters, this will be a far more difficult task than landing a Falcon 9 Full Thrust which only has a single core booster.

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SpaceX previously said it was "shockingly difficult to go from a single core to a triple-core vehicle" and admits the Falcon Heavy first demonstration flight will be very risky.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk on April 1 said that when SpaceX conducts the first demonstration flight of the Falcon Heavy later this year, it might also include an attempt to return the first-stage back to Earth.

"Considering trying to bring upper stage back on Falcon Heavy demo flight for full reusability. Odds of success low, but maybe worth a shot," Musk tweeted on April 1.

He said the goal is to make sure the upper stage on the Falcon Heavy is reusable. This goal is part of SpaceX's plan to recycle Falcon Heavy boosters for more economical commercial spaceflight.

Landing the Falcon Heavy booster is the logical next step to the feat achieved on April 8, 2016 when a Falcon 9 Full Thrust first-stage landed on a drone ship at sea named "Of Course I Still Love You," the first time an event like this occurred.  This followed the first landing on land by a Falcon 9 first-stage in December 2015.

Experts have been awaiting the super heavy-lift Falcon Heavy to repeat the landing on land for some time considering both the Falcon 9 Full Thrust and the Falcon Heavy are both 70 meters tall and are powered by the same engine family for the first-stage booster.

The only difference between the two is that Falcon Heavy has two additional strap-on boosters attached to its side. This additional power allows Falcon Heavy to lift 54.4 metric tons to low Earth orbit (LEO) compared to 22.8 metric tons for a Falcon 9 Full Thrust. Falcon Heavy was designed from the outset to carry humans into space, and will take humans on missions to the Moon or Mars.

TagsSpaceX, Falcon Heavy launch vehicle, Elon Musk, Falcon 9 Full Thrust, first-stage booster