INQUISITR.COM / Science & Tech

Elon Musk Is Sending His Personal Tesla Roadster Into Space

By Patricia Grannum
Published on: 03:54 PST, Dec 2, 2017

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that his aerospace company’s most impressive reusable rocket to date will launch sometime within the next month. The rocket, the SpaceX Falcon Heavy, will have one extra component on board, a Tesla Roadster that belongs to Musk himself. In an interesting twist, he added that the Roadster would be playing “Space Oddity” by David Bowie as it makes its ascent towards Mars’ orbit.

The billionaire inventor made the announcement on Twitter.

“Falcon Heavy to launch next month from Apollo 11 pad at the Cape. Will have double thrust of next largest rocket. Guaranteed to be exciting, one way or another,” he tweeted on December 1.

“Payload will be my midnight cherry Tesla Roadster playing Space Oddity. Destination is Mars orbit. Will be in deep space for a billion years or so if it doesn’t blow up on ascent.”

SpaceX president, Gwynne Shotwell recently revealed that the Falcon Heavy probably won’t launch until early 2018. Shotwell told Aviation Week (as reported by Techcrunch) that the company has scheduled a “static test fire” of the rocket where all 27 of its engines will be fired at the same time. Once there are no major hiccups with the test, the launch should take place about a couple of weeks later.

According to the SpaceX website, the Falcon Heavy has the ability to lift over 54 metric tons (119,000 lb) which equates to the mass of a full 737 jetliner. Elon Musk and Co. is calling it the “world’s most powerful rocket” and claims that it can carry more than double the payload of its closest vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy, at a third of the cost. It has been created to carry humans into space.

Musk didn’t specify whether the Falcon Heavy will contain the first generation or second generation version of the Tesla Roadster. It will probably be the first generation version because the existence of the second generation Roadster has only recently been revealed. The prototype was unveiled at the Tesla Semi event in November and it stole a lot of the electric semi-truck’s thunder.

As the Inquisitr previously reported, when the Roadster goes into production, it’s expected to become the fastest production car on the market. Based on its current specs, the electric sedan can go from 0 to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds and can travel one-fourth mile in 8.9 seconds. For comparison, super fast cars from other automakers like the Bugatti Veyron, Porsche 918 Spyder, and McLaren 720s can drive that distance in just under 10 seconds.

Share this article: Elon Musk Is Sending His Personal Tesla Roadster Into Space
tesla elon musk SpaceX
More from Inquisitr