Space X took a historic step forward on Tuesday by successfully launching the world's most powerful rocket, paving the way for fabulous commercial contracts and perhaps, ultimately, the conquest of Mars.
"Apparently, there's a car in orbit around the Earth." Elon Musk's tweet, the proud owner of SpaceX and Tesla, toured social networks and the world's press. The billionaire, as a communications expert, has succeeded in making his red Tesla convertible floating in space the indelible image of an even greater feat: the successful launch of Falcon Heavy, the most powerful rocket in the world.
"Success! SpaceX launches the Falcon Heavy rocket for a historic maiden voyage ",proclaims the specialist Space. com website . Qualified as the most powerful rocket since NASA's Saturn V, Falcon Heavy took off from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) launch pad 39A - the launch pad for NASA's Appolo missions and space shuttles - at 3:45 p. m. local time," said the site.
The feat was coupled with a second one: the return of the rocket launchers to Earth, and their landing as perfect as coordinated. Historical moments that fascinated the crowds, on YouTube but also in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Tens of thousands of spectators made the pilgrimage from across the country to feel the intense heat and thunderous roar caused by the 2,500 tonnes of rocket thrust,"reports the Wired news site. The equivalent of 18 Boeing 747s upright.
Elon Musk has also written a new chapter in the history of product placement, styling his rocket with a cherry red Tesla convertible, nonchalantly driven by a scuba-driving model to David Bowie's Space Oddity sound. If all goes well, propelled by the second stage of the rocket,"it will continue its journey in orbit around the sun, sometimes approaching very close to Mars," according to the Los Angeles Times.
But Musk's ultimate goal, as Orlando Sentinel reminds us, is the Red Planet, because with the launch of Falcon Heavy," SpaceX paves the way for manned journeys to Mars". But the company will use an even bigger rocket than Falcon Heavy: Currently under development, it will be able to send "hundreds of people into space at the same time," says Space. com. A will of Musk himself, whose site reports the comments, when he looked at his giant rocket on the launch pad, the day before takeoff: "I look at Falcon Heavy and I think' She's a little small'".