The cherry red car launched on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket demonstration flight and is expected to be in space for hundreds of millions of years.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — If Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster and its “Starman” driver are to survive in space for hundreds of millions of years, they may have to dodge some asteroids.
Musk confirmed late Tuesday that a final burn by the Falcon Heavy rocket’s upper stage engine had successfully initiated a “trans-Mars injection” intended to boost the car into an orbit around the sun stretching as far out as Mars.
Turns out it will go a bit farther out into deep space than that.
Feb. 7: Musk: Falcon Heavy’s center booster hit ocean ‘hard,’ damaged drone ship
Feb. 7: A Tesla Roadster in orbit. A ‘Starman’ at the wheel. Why this incredible image has us excited about space exploration
Feb. 7: Buzz Aldrin and Bill Nye toast SpaceX launch together
“Third burn successful,” Musk reported on Twitter. “Exceeded Mars orbit and kept going to the Asteroid Belt.”
Before that point in the flight, Musk said the sight of the Falcon Heavy launching and his car floating several thousand miles above Earth was “surreal.”
“It’s kind of silly and fun, but I think silly, fun things are important,” he said.
Musk noted that outside of the atmosphere, the car’s cherry red color looked “weird, too crisp” — proof that it was real.
“You can tell it’s real because it looks so fake,” he joked. “It’s just literally a normal car in space, which I kind of like the absurdity of that.”
Feb. 6: Elon Musk successfully launched his Tesla into orbit on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket
Feb. 5: SpaceX: Elon Musk plans to drive a Tesla to Mars (with some Falcon Heavy rocket help)
Feb. 5: Graphic: How SpaceX plans to take another step toward the moon, Mars
A new rocket flying a demonstration flight would typically launch something like a block of concrete to simulate the mass of a spacecraft.
Musk and SpaceX decided that was too boring.
“And I think the imagery of it is something that’s going to get people excited around the world,” he said. “And it’s still tripping me out.”
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Jan. 5: Elon Musk: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy launch will be before end of January
Dec. 27: Elon Musk reveals red Tesla Roadster bound for Mars
Dec. 21: Photos: See the world’s most powerful rocket — all 27 engines — before it launches
