The Air Force denied a rumor Wednesday that claimed SpaceX had offered to launch \u2015 for free \u2015 a national security payload aboard the maiden Falcon Heavy launch earlier this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The claim was originally asserted in a tweet by Lori Garver, the former deputy administrator of NASA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was told by a SpaceX VP at the launch that they offered free launches to NASA, Air Force etc. but got no takers,\u201d the former #2 at NASA wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Capt. Victoria B. Porto, a spokeswoman for Air Force\u2019s Space Command, however, denied such an offer was made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere were no official offers to launch a payload on the Falcon Heavy for free made to the Air Force,\u201d Porto told C4ISRNET.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A SpaceX spokesman did not return emails seeking comment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In theory, such an offer would have been worth tens of millions of dollars to the Air Force, but also carried substantial risk for the Falcon Heavy\u2019s maiden launch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n