LOS ANGELES, April 29 (Xinhua) -- SpaceX's heavy-lift rocket Falcon Heavy on Wednesday launched a communications satellite for U.S. company Viasat into orbit, aiming to provide broadband services over the Asia-Pacific region.

The rocket lifted off at 10:13 a.m. Eastern Time from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in the U.S. state of Florida.

Later, SpaceX confirmed the separation of the Falcon Heavy's side boosters. The two side boosters successfully landed on SpaceX's Landing Zones 2 and 40 -- two distinct pads at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Following launch, the satellite "ViaSat-3 F3" will spend several months traveling to geostationary orbit before arriving at its reserved orbital slot.

Falcon Heavy is composed of three reusable Falcon 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. It can lift nearly 64 metric tonnes to orbit, according to SpaceX. ■