Tesla Takes Flight

A Tesla Roadster is speeding through space right now! It was launched using SpaceX’s new Falcon Heavy rocket. The Roadster was Elon Musk’s personal car. Musk is the CEO of both SpaceX and Tesla. His car was used as the rocket’s test mass. Test masses confirm how much weight a rocket can send into space. Concrete or steel blocks are usually used as test masses, but Musk wanted something different.

The car left Earth during the February 6 launch of the 230-foot-tall Falcon Heavy. This rocket can lift the equivalent of a 737 jetliner with passengers, crew, luggage, and fuel into orbit. That makes it the most powerful rocket currently in use—twice as powerful as the next-strongest rocket. The rocket’s thrust comes from 3 boosters, each of which have 9 engines. These boosters propel the main rocket into space and then return to Earth to be reused in future launches. In this first test, 2 of the 3 boosters were successfully recovered.