Join a red Tesla Roadster as it moves through space — and its mannequin driver, Starman — as it begins its journey.
Well, we’ve done it: Mankind put an environmentally friendly sports car into space. With a fake spaceman behind the wheel.
SpaceX’s historic launch of Falcon Heavy from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Fla., put the rocket on a mission traveling for hundreds of millions of years into deep space.
The rocket also carried a Tesla Roadster with a space-suited mannequin dubbed Starman. And now, thanks to a battery-powered camera aboard the car, you can share in the early hours of the cherry red convertible’s journey.
SpaceX expected the battery to last no longer than 12 hours, as Space.com reported, and it in fact lasted just over four.
A new rocket demonstrating flight typically carries a block of concrete with it to simulate the mass of a spacecraft. Elon Musk, the CEO of both SpaceX and Tesla, decided that was too boring. Thus, a red Tesla and Spaceman.
A final burn by an engine on the Falcon Heavy rocket aimed to boost the car into an orbit around the sun stretching as far out as Mars. It actually exceeded that, and will orbit farther into deep space.
„And I think the imagery of it is something that’s going to get people excited around the world,“ Musk said. „And it’s still tripping me out.“
Contributing: James Dean, Florida Today
