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There is now a car in space, being driven by a mannequin

Credits : Screenshot YouTube / SpaceX

SpaceX have succeeded in launching their new rocket for the first time: the Falcon Heavy. This is now the most powerful in the world, with Elon Musk’s Roadstar at its side. A highly symbolic first. 

The Falcon Heavy is now the most powerful rocket in the world, with Elon Musk’s space car at its side. More precisely, this car is called the Roadstar Tesla Midnight Red, propelled into space by reconstructed engines. In the driving seat, a mannequin called StarMan is wearing a protoype SpaceX suit that astronauts will wear in order to go to the International Space Station in the Dragon capsule. Once in space, the payload fairing was released, exposing the space car to the universe. It is now floating freely above the earth.

In successfully completing its launch, SpaceX demonstrated several things. The Falcon Heavy has now become a reality. If you have 90 million dollars in your pocket and you feel like sending 54 tons of merchandise into low Earth orbit, you need to knock on the door of SpaceX. The engineers also replicated the first stages of the Falcon-9, which was previously sent into space before landing gently on the launch pad. They were also lucky enough to be able to trial their new combination in space. The mannequin installed to drive the Tesla could effectively tell us whether or not this new space suit can resist the hostile environment of interplanetary space.

On the other hand, it is impossible to know how long it could last for. All that we can know is that we can follow the mannequin’s adventures live, thanks to a camera installed in its shoulder, which displays a reassuring Do not Panic screen on the Roadster’s dashboard. And we can thank Elon Musk for all of this. We have entered into a new stage of space exploration, meaning we are one step closer to human exploration of the red planet, where the SpaceX boss would like to finish out his days.

Credits: Screenshot YouTube / SpaceX

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