Tesla Roadster

In-active Cargo Mass Simulator Crew Capacity: 2 Diameter: 1.8 m Height: 4.0 m

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Feb. 6, 2018

A car in space.

Flight Life

It is now on an heliocentric orbit with no planned return to Earth.

Description

The car, mounted on the rocket's second stage, acquired enough velocity to escape Earth's gravity and enter an elliptical heliocentric orbit crossing the orbit of Mars. The orbit reaches a maximum distance from the Sun at aphelion of 1.66 astronomical units (au). During the early portion of the voyage outside the Earth's atmosphere, live video was transmitted back to the mission control center and live-streamed for slightly over four hours.

History

Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster is an electric sports car that served as the dummy payload for the February 2018 Falcon Heavy test flight and became an artificial satellite of the Sun. "Starman", a mannequin dressed in a spacesuit, occupies the driver's seat. The car and rocket are products of Tesla and SpaceX, respectively, both companies founded by Elon Musk. The 2008-model Roadster was previously used by Musk for commuting to work, and is the only production car in space.



Falcon 9
Success
8 hours, 40 minutes ago
Starlink Group 13-1
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

A batch of satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Ceres-1
Success
1 day, 3 hours ago
5 satellites
Launch Area 95A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Carried 5 satellites to sun synchronous orbit: * Yunyao-1 37 to 40 * Jitianxing A-05


Long March 2D
Success
4 days, 9 hours ago
PRSC-EO1
Launch Area 4 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Optical Earth observation satellite for SUPARCO of Pakistan. Hitchhiking payloads: * DAO-1 * Blue Carbon 1


Starship
Failure
4 days, 15 hours ago
Flight 7
Orbital Launch Mount A - SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA

Seventh test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle.


New Glenn
Success
5 days, 7 hours ago
Maiden Flight
Launch Complex 36A - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Maiden flight of the New Glenn launch vehicle. Will carry the prototype Blue Ring payload tug and payload hoisting platform, consisting of communicat…


Falcon 9
Success
6 days, 7 hours ago
Blue Ghost Lunar Lander Mission 1 & Hakuto-R M2 “Resilience”
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Blue Ghost is a commercial lunar lander developed by Firefly Aerospace for NASA’s CLPS program. Blue Ghost is designed to bring up to 155kg of payloa…


Falcon 9
Success
6 days, 18 hours ago
Transporter 12 (Dedicated SSO Rideshare)
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Dedicated rideshare flight to a sun-synchronous orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week ago
Starlink Group 12-4
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 21 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Smart Dragon 3
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
10 x CentiSpace-1
Haiyang Spaceport - Sea Launch

Chinese commercial small satellites by Beijing-based company Future Navigation for providing GNSS augmentation signals services from LEO. They are pa…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
Starlink Group 12-12
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 21 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.