{"id":21932,"date":"2018-02-07T01:02:49","date_gmt":"2018-02-07T01:02:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/02\/07\/spacexs-big-new-rocket-blasts-off-puts-sports-car-in-space\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:54:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:54:25","slug":"spacexs-big-new-rocket-blasts-off-puts-sports-car-in-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/space\/2018\/02\/07\/spacexs-big-new-rocket-blasts-off-puts-sports-car-in-space\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX’s big new rocket blasts off, puts sports car in space"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. \u2014 SpaceX\u2019s big new rocket blasted off Tuesday on its first test flight, carrying a red sports car aiming for an endless road trip past Mars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Falcon Heavy rose from the same launch pad used by NASA nearly 50 years ago to send men to the moon. With liftoff, the Heavy became the most powerful rocket in use today, doubling the liftoff punch of its closest competitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three boosters and 27 engines roared to life at Kennedy Space Center, as thousands watched from surrounding beaches, bridges and roads, jamming the highways in scenes unmatched since NASA\u2019s last space shuttle flight. At SpaceX Mission Control in Southern California, employees screamed, whistled and raised pumped fists into the air as the launch commentators called off each milestone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two of the boosters<\/a> \u2014 both recycled from previous launches \u2014 returned minutes later for simultaneous, side-by-side touchdowns on land at Cape Canaveral. Sonic booms rumbled across the region with the vertical landings. There was no immediate word on whether the third booster<\/a>, brand new, made it onto an ocean platform 300 miles offshore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk owns the rocketing Tesla Roadster, which is shooting for a solar orbit that will reach all the way to Mars. As head of the electric carmaker Tesla, he combined his passions to add a dramatic flair to the Heavy\u2019s long-awaited inaugural flight. Ballast for a rocket debut is usually concrete or steel slabs, or experiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Falcon Heavy rocket sits on the launch pad hours before take off Feb. 6, 2018, in Titusville, Fla. (Satellite image \u00a92017 DigitalGlobe)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cameras mounted on the car fed stunning video of the convertible floating high above the ocean with its driver, a space-suited dummy, named \u201cStarman\u201d after the Davie Bowie song. A sign on the dashboard read: \u201cDon\u2019t panic!\u201d Bowie\u2019s \u201cLife on Mars?\u201d played in the background at one point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cView from SpaceX Launch Control,\u201d Musk wrote via Twitter. \u201cApparently, there is a car in orbit around Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minutes later, he provided a livestream of \u201cStarman\u201d tooling around the blue home planet, looking something like a NASCAR racer out for a Sunday drive, with its right hand on the wheel and the left arm resting on the car\u2019s door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the eve of the flight, Musk told reporters the company had done all it could to maximize success and he was at peace with whatever happens: success, \u201cone big boom\u201d or some other calamity. Musk has plenty of experience with rocket accidents, from his original Falcon 1 test flights to his follow-up Falcon 9s<\/a>, one of which exploded on a nearby pad during a 2016 ignition test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Falcon Heavy is a combination of three Falcon 9s, the rocket that the company uses to ship supplies to the International Space Station and lift satellites. SpaceX is reusing first-stage boosters to save on launch costs. Most other rocket makers discard their spent boosters in the ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chart compares heavy-class rockets by height and payload to low-Earth orbit. (AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Unlike most rockets out there, the Falcon Heavy receives no government funding. The hulking rocket is intended for massive satellites, like those used by the U.S. military and major-league communication companies. Even before the successful test flight, customers were signed up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was awesome like a science fiction movie coming to reality,\u201d said former NASA deputy administrator Dava Newman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology\u2019s Apollo professor of astronautics. \u201cThey nailed it. Good for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the high stakes and high drama, Tuesday\u2019s launch attracted huge crowds not seen since NASA\u2019s final space shuttle flight seven years ago. While the shuttles had more liftoff muscle than the Heavy, the all-time leaders in both size and might were NASA\u2019s Saturn V rockets, which first flew astronauts to the moon in 1968.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not counting Apollo moon buggies, the Roadster is the first automobile to speed right off the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The car faces considerable speed bumps before settling into its intended orbit around the sun, an oval circle stretching from the orbit of Earth on one end to the orbit of Mars on the other. It has to endure a cosmic bombardment during several hours of cruising through the highly charged Van Allen radiation belts encircling Earth. Finally, a thruster has to fire to put the car on the right orbital course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This Dec. 6, 2017, photo made available by SpaceX shows a Tesla car next to the fairing of a Falcon Heavy rocket in Cape Canaveral, Fla. For the Heavy’s inaugural flight, the rocket will carry up Elon Musk’s roadster. In addition to SpaceX, Musk runs the electric car maker Tesla. (SpaceX via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If it weathers all this, the Roadster will reach the vicinity of Mars in six months, Musk said. The car could be traveling between Earth and Mars\u2019 neighborhoods for a billion years, according to the high-tech billionaire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musk acknowledged the Roadster could come \u201cquite close\u201d to Mars during its epic cruise, with only a remote chance of crashing into the red planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also on board in a protected storage unit is Isaac Asimov\u2019s science fiction series, \u201cFoundation.\u201d A plaque contains the names of the more than 6,000 SpaceX employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Heavy already is rattling the launch market. Its sticker price is $90 million, less than one-tenth the estimated cost of NASA\u2019s Space Launch System megarocket in development for moon and Mars expeditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the Air Force certified the SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9<\/a> to launch military satellites in May 2015, it has not yet certified the larger Falcon Heavy rocket needed for the larger payloads.
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