SpaceX's Falcon Heavy has launched 11 times, all successfully, and is based on the Falcon 9 rocket rated to ferry people into orbit. NASA already certified Falcon Heavy to launch its most expensive robotic missions, such as the Europa Clipper mission, which launched last month.

NASA announced that it has selected SpaceX to provide launch services for its ambitious Dragonfly mission that will place a rotorcraft lander at Saturn's moon of Titan as part of its New Frontiers Program.

The space agency announced a $256.6 million contract with SpaceX to support the launch of the Dragonfly mission – a rotorcraft lander mission under NASA's New Frontiers Program, which funds a series of medium-class spacecraft expeditions to explore the solar system. Dragonfly is the fourth mission in this program, and will cost about $3.35 billion.

Expanding on the success of Ingenuity, NASA will send another first of its kind helicopter mission to explore outside Earth, Saturn’s biggest moon Titan.

NASA’s return to the moon has been plagued by delays and spiraling costs, which means it could now fall to privateer firms like SpaceX to take us back to the surface of the moon. If the Elon Musk-backed company is given NASA’s contract to fly to the moon,

NASA has picked SpaceX to launch its Dragonfly astrobiology mission to the intriguing Saturn moon Titan. A Falcon Heavy will loft Dragonfly in July 2028.