Elon Musk and his rocket manufacturing company SpaceX reminisced about the first launch of its Falcon Heavy rocket seven years ago on Thursday. The rocket carried Musk’s red Roadster vehicle as payload then.
What Happened: The Falcon Heavy launched for the first time on Feb. 6, 2018, carrying a dummy payload: Musk’s personal midnight cherry Tesla Roadster with a dummy astronaut in the driving seat nicknamed Starman. The Roadster, mounted on the second stage of the vehicle, was subsequently placed in an orbit around the sun.
“Seven good years of Falcon Heavy,” Musk wrote on X on Thursday while sharing a photograph from the launch.
SpaceX also shared pictures of the Roadster in space with the caption, “This is not the asteroid you're looking for.”
The Minor Planet Center (MPC), responsible for the designation of minor bodies in the solar system such as asteroids and comets, seemingly mistook the roadster for a small body in space in January.
Why It Matters: According to a third-party Tesla Roadster tracking website, the vehicle is located 240,181,749 miles from Earth at the time of writing. The roadster is positioned 293,433,925 miles from Mars and 151,120,687 miles from the Sun, as per the website.
Falcon Heavy’s engines generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff equal to about eighteen 747 aircraft at full power, according to SpaceX. The vehicle can lift nearly 64 metric tons to low earth orbit as compared to SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket which can carry only 23 metric tons.
Musk has previously dubbed the Falcon Heavy rocket as “scary.” "I love that rocket, but it’s scary. So many state changes post liftoff," Musk said in April 2023.
The vehicle has completed 11 missions to date including 2 launches in 2024.
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Photo courtesy: SpaceX
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