The world’s first space sports car is cruising toward the asteroid belt, well beyond Mars.
SpaceX chief Elon Musk confirmed the new, more distant route for his rocketing Tesla Roadster, which was launched aboard the company’s Falcon Heavy from Florida.
The Heavy became the most powerful rocket flying today with Tuesday’s inaugural test flight.
Mr. Musk said the final firing of the upper stage put his red convertible into a solar orbit that stretches all the way to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The original plan had the car travelling no farther than Mars.
In the driver seat of the Tesla is a space-suited mannequin nicknamed “Starman”. Mr. Musk doesn’t plan to fly people on the Heavy, but is working on an even bigger rocket for deep-space crews.
Exciting mission
“The mission went as well as one could have hoped,” an ecstatic Mr. Musk told reporters after the launch, calling it “probably the most exciting thing I have seen literally ever.”
“I had this image of a giant explosion on the pad with a wheel bouncing down the road with the Tesla logo landing somewhere,” he said. “Fortunately that is not what happened.”
SpaceX’s webcast showed the Tesla Roadster soaring into space, as David Bowie’s Space Oddity played in the background — with the words “DON’T PANIC” visible on the dashboard, in an apparent nod to the sci-fi series the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy . The Roadster was also outfitted with a data storage unit containing Isaac Asimov’s science fiction book series, the Foundation trilogy, and a plaque bearing the names of 6,000 SpaceX employees.
Mr. Musk posted a live video showing the “Starman” mannequin appearing to cruise, its gloved hand on the wheel, through the darkness of space, with the Earth’s image reflected on the car’s glossy surface.
“Maybe it will be discovered by some future alien race,” Mr. Musk told reporters. “What were these guys doing? Did they worship this car?” he mused.
About two minutes into the flight, the two side boosters peeled away from the centre core and made their way back toward Earth for an upright landing.
Both rockets landed side by side in unison on launchpads, live video images showed. “New Olympic sport — Synchronized Landings!” wrote NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik on Twitter.
The centre booster failed to land on an ocean platform — known as a droneship — as planned. It plunged into the ocean as it did not have enough propellant.
(With inputs from AFP)
