Elon Musk’s SpaceX today successfully launched the most powerful rocket in the world, carrying the unique payload of a Tesla Roadster car – and you can watch the journey live.
The Tesla driven by a SpaceX suit-wearing mannequin is on a one-way road trip to Mars orbit and the entire journey is being live streamed to YouTube while blasting ‘Life on Mars’ by David Bowie on loop.
The rocket, dubbed Falcon Heavy, is described as a reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle and can carry far heavier payloads into low-earth-orbit than previous rockets – up to a staggering 63,800 kilograms.
Falcon Heavy launched from Cape Canaveral – the same launchpad that NASA used to send rockets to the moon – just before 8am Australian time. Both the side boosters were landed back on earth successfully from orbit with the centre booster’s status currently unknown.
The car is expected to stay in orbit for hundreds of millions of years – possibly longer.
With the successful launch and return of the Falcon Heavy, Space X would be ready to launch again in a few months. The payload capability of the Falcon Heavy allows for larger satellites to be placed in orbit and also send larger robots to Mars in the future.