SpaceX, the pioneering rocket firm run by billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk launched the world’s most powerful operational rocket into space today. The rocket, called Falcon Heavy, launched Tuesday at about 3:45 p.m. EST from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
In a first ever for space aviation, SpaceX also managed to return at least two of the massive rocket’s first-stage rocket boosters to land, upright, back on earth. They were guided back through the Earth’s atmosphere and landed together at a Kennedy Space Center landing pad. A third booster was set to land on a seaborne platform, but the livestream of the landing cut out just as the booster was about to set down. Musk confirmed that the booster crashed upon landing.
On board Falcon Heavy is Musk’s personal Tesla roadster. At the wheel is a dummy dressed in a spacesuit. The car is also blaring David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” on infinite loop as it travels through space. The company has set up cameras on the car to relay live stream video as the car travels on its journey (Musk plans to put the car into orbit around the sun).
While Falcon Heavy is currently the world’s most powerful rocket, it is not the most powerful rocket in history. That distinction belongs to NASA’s Saturn V rocket, which powered the Apollo moon landings. Saturn V was retired in the 1970s.