David Bowie never made it into space, but somewhere up there right now Major Tom is having a moment while looking back down on us. Bowie’s ultimate homage to slipping the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of god, “Space Oddity,” is currently blasting out of the stereo of SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s personal red Tesla roadster as the first-ever Falcon Heavy rocket roars into deep space.
The impressive vehicle — hyped as the world’s most powerful operational rocket — blasted off around 3:45 p.m. ET on Tuesday (Feb. 6) from Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the live stream of its launch was reportedly viewed by more than 3 million people. Not only did the rocket launch go off without a hitch, but the two of the giant boosters fell back to earth and landed upright, in perfect sync, on the Kennedy Space Center launch pad; a third booster missed its droneship target and crashed at sea, according to CNN.
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Musk’s $100,000 car has a dummy named Starman, of course, dressed in a spacesuit at the wheel while “Space Oddity” plays on repeat as the ship heads towards orbits around Mars and the sun. In another pop culture nod, the dashboard of the car features the message “DON’T PANIC!,” a reference to the 1979 geek favorite book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
History has been made with the very emotional launch of @elonmusk’s midnight cherry Tesla Roadster car into space, with David Bowie’s Life on Mars as the soundtrack, and a chap called Starman in the driving seat. More on this remarkable @SpaceX event here: https://t.co/SqGwYJEkzr pic.twitter.com/gXk36bK6wy
— David Bowie Official (@DavidBowieReal) February 7, 2018
SpaceX Tuesday well done peace and love –??—-??—— pic.twitter.com/ygsThYYAJ4
— #RingoStarr (@ringostarrmusic) February 7, 2018
Live Views of Starman https://t.co/G335kvVsta
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 6, 2018
A red Tesla Roadster is orbiting Earth, with a dummy astronaut in the driver’s seat.
The vehicle hitched a ride into space in the payload of SpaceX’s #FalconHeavy, the world’s largest rocket. pic.twitter.com/ZUcYDj4OJx
— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 7, 2018
Third burn successful. Exceeded Mars orbit and kept going to the Asteroid Belt. pic.twitter.com/bKhRN73WHF
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 7, 2018
More photos from Falcon Heavy’s first flight → https://t.co/095WHX44BX pic.twitter.com/6vlXJoYif0
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 7, 2018
Watch the SpaceX live stream below.
Before the launch, an animation of the rocket was soundtracked to Bowie’s “Life on Mars.”
Falcon Heavy sends a car to Mars https://t.co/Y7uBtU6Mt2
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 5, 2018