Blaine LaFleur
Starman, a dummy in a SpaceX space suit, is behind the wheel.
Falcon Heavy successfully launched today, although the payload is still flying with the second stage of the rocket. The two side boosters jettisoned from the rocket and successfully landed on landing pads at Cape Canaveral about 1,000 feet apart. The fate of the center booster of the rocket, which attempted to land on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean, is not yet clear.
What is clear is the status of Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster, the payload for today's Falcon Heavy flight. SpaceX is currently streaming live video from the car as it flies through the void. Periodically you can see Earth in the stream as Starman, the dummy behind the wheel of the car, attempts to fly beyond Earth orbit to circle the sun.
Yesterday during a press conference, Elon Musk said that if the Roadster make it to its planned orbit, "we estimate it will be in that orbit for hundreds of millions of years, possibly billions."
Fly on Starman, fly on.
For more videos on today's launch, see below:
