Elon Musk Launched His Own Tesla Into Space With A Stupid-Powerful Rocket

Elon Musk’s Space-X has successfully launched its Falcon Heavy rocket, shooting the entrepreneur’s own Tesla Roadster into orbit in the process.

The rocket exploded upwards from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, confirming Space-X’s big project as the most powerful space propulsion platform since NASA‘s handiwork nearly five decades ago.

Boasting nearly 2.2 million kilograms of thrust, the rocket’s three boosters are also reusable. Eight minutes after take-off, two of the units returned to land.

The third booster continued to fire for another thirty seconds before the second-stage unit, carrying the dummy payload, separated from the rocket. The booster core is also expected to return to Earth for re-use.

The second-stage unit is scheduled to spend several hours coasting in orbit around Earth, before it shoots the Tesla on a trajectory expected to travel as far as Mars.

“We estimate it’ll be in that orbit for several hundred million years, maybe in excess of a billion years,” Musk told reporters.

“At times, it will come extremely close to Mars, and there’s a tiny, tiny chance that it will hit Mars.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Be3MJLTgFox/?hl=en&taken-by=elonmusk

Musk also tweeted a video showing the view from the car.

At time of writing, the thing is right over us.

This whole thing isn’t just a wildly extravagant cross-branding exercise. The Falcon Heavy can carry much heavier payloads than its nearest competitor, meaning Space-X has proven its viability as a launch platform for third-party satellites.

Fuck it, we’d also volunteer to go for a ride. Elon, sign us up. We’re ready.

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