The sky is the limit for Elon Musk! The billionaire business magnate launched his personal Tesla sports car into orbit on the world’s most powerful operational rocket on Tuesday, February 6.
Musk’s game-changing company SpaceX blasted its Falcon Heavy rocket, attached with the 46-year-old’s bright red Tesla Roadster, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida around 3:45 p.m. ET. A spacesuit-clad dummy named Starman sits at the wheel of the $200,000 convertible, which passed Mars hours after liftoff and is now headed toward the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
“I’m still trying to absorb everything that happened because it’s still kind of surreal to me,” Musk told reporters during a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
Naturally, the car was sent into space in style. The radio plays the late David Bowie’s song “Space Oddity” on repeat, and a screen on the dashboard reads “Don’t Panic,” a reference to Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. In addition, a miniature Hot Wheels Roadster rests on the dashboard, and there is a plaque bearing the names of several SpaceX executives.
Congratulations @ElonMusk and @SpaceX on the successful #FalconHeavy launch. This achievement, along with @NASA’s commercial and international partners, continues to show American ingenuity at its best! pic.twitter.com/eZfLSpyJPK
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 7, 2018
President Donald Trump took to Twitter to congratulate Musk, who recently split from on-off girlfriend Amber Heard. “Congratulations @ElonMusk and @SpaceX on the successful #FalconHeavy launch,” the 71-year-old wrote. “This achievement, along with @NASA’s commercial and international partners, continues to show American ingenuity at its best!”
SpaceX has several more Falcon Heavy missions on the horizon. A second flight is expected later this year.
