SpaceX Successfully Launches World’s Most Powerful Rocket
Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched the world’s most powerful rocket on its way into orbit around the sun from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday.
Within minutes of liftoff, the Falcon Heavy reached supersonic speed, creating an audible cracking sound that could be heard by scores of cheering onlookers scattered roughly a mile from the launch pad.
The successful launch included a dramatic landing that came minutes later when two Falcon Heavy rocket boosters returned to earth with a controlled burn, touching down simultaneously on pre-arranged targets in Florida.
Falcon Heavy's rocket boosters touching down.
In addition to designing a rocket that can reach record-level speeds, SpaceX is attempting to make space travel more affordable – a feat that requires reusing rockets instead of discarding them in space.
“It’s difficult to overstate what SpaceX has just accomplished: it’s successfully introduced a new heavy rocket to the world,” reported the Guardian. “What’s more, just a few years ago the notion of re-landing reusable rockets seemed like a pipe dream, and yet SpaceX has made it routine.”
Musk admitted before the launch that failure, even a possible explosion, was a possibility. So the rocket is carrying a dummy payload – Musk’s old cherry-red Tesla Roadster with a mannequin dubbed “Spaceman” in a space suit in the driver’s seat.
Cameras attached to the vehicle provided the “epic views” promised by Musk. David Bowie’s "Space Oddity" will play on the car’s sound system and the glove box contains a copy of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” Moments into the SpaceX live-stream of the launch, Bowie’s “Life on Mars?” blared at viewers, including the lyrics, “Look at those cavemen go.”
If it succeeds in reaching a planned orbit around the sun, the launch may open new opportunities, such as taking robots to other planets, and putting much larger satellites into higher orbits in space.
The aim is that Musk’s next project – the Big Falcon Rocket – will be capable of landing on Mars. Musk wants humanity to become a multi-planetary species and SpaceX are planning to build a self-sustaining colony on the surface of the red planet.
