CAR STATS:SpaceX’s Elon Musk also runs the electric carmaker Tesla. The rocket
is designed to hoist super size satellites as well as equipment to the moon,
Mars or other far-flung points. Musk said that the car could come fairly close
to Mars and that there’s an “extremely tiny” chance it could crash into the
planet. But he quickly added, “I wouldn’t hold your breath.DESTINATION:SpaceX is
targeting a long, oval orbit around the sun for the Roadster that will take the
car as far out as Mars, and have it making laps for a billion years. It’s at the
top of the rocket, enclosed for liftoff..Instead, the rocket will be hauling a
red sports convertible with a space-suited dummy at the wheel and David Bowie’s
“Space Oddity” on the soundtrack. SpaceX is bucking decades of launch tradition
for the first test flight of its new megarocket. It is one of the car company’s
original Roadsters. SpaceX leases Launch Complex 39A from NASA.
“This time I
don’t, so that may be a bad sign.HISTORIC DEPARTURE POINT:The Falcon Heavy is
flying from the same launch pad used by NASA to send men to the moon. None of
the usual, no-big-deal-if-it’s-destroyed launch ballast — like steel or concrete
slabs, or mundane experiments — for this curtain raiser. Once spent, they will
aim for side-by-side vertical touchdowns at Cape Canaveral. The Federal Aviation
Administration had to sign off on the Heavy-Tesla combo.”
The hope is that any
failure comes far enough into the flight “so we at least learn as much as
possible along the way. The brand new, center core will attempt to land on an
ocean barge.” Musk’ intent on establishing a city on the red planet, with hordes
of Earthlings and building materials flying there on a super-extra-mega SpaceX
rocket that is still in development. NASA, meanwhile, is sinking billions of
dollars into a massive new rocket called the Space Launch System, or SLS, that’s
meant to return astronauts to the moon and also get them one day to Mars. He
also said he normally feels “super stressed out” the day before a launch. So in
a bit of cross-marketing, he’s put his own cherry-red Tesla Roadster on the
Heavy’s inaugural flight. Not only did LC-39A, as it’s known, serve as the
departure point for all the Apollo moonshots from 1968 to 1972, it was the scene
for most of the space shuttle liftoffs. Two of the Heavy’s boosters are
recycled; they have flown on previous Falcon 9 launches. The protective cover
will drop away, allowing the car to travel on its way.
SpaceX has changed its
mind about carrying people on the Heavy, Musk said, preferring to use the
super-duper rocket under development. It’s location at Kennedy Space Center
keeps people at least three miles away, a distance determined by NASA in the
1960s to be safe just in case the Saturn V exploded on the pad.FUTURE FLIGHTS:
SpaceX already has customers lined up for the Falcon Heavy. The Falcon Heavy is
set to become the world’s most powerful rocket in use today when it blasts off
from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. No car has ever rocketed into space before,
if you don’t count NASA’s Apollo-era moon buggies, still parked on the lunar
surface.SpaceX is bucking decades of launch tradition for the first test flight
of its new megarocket. Stretching 40 feet (12 meters) at the base and standing
230 feet (70 meters) tall, the Heavy is a triple dose of the Falcon 9, the
company’s frequent flyer with just a single booster.COMPETITION: Blue Origin, an
aerospace company run by another billionaire, is developing a large
orbital-class rocket that promises to give Heavy an out-of-this-world run for
its money.
The private company’s online flight manifest shows the US Air Force
as already signed up.On the eve of the launch, Musk said he’s at peace with
whatever happens, be it a successful test flight or an explosive failure. Three
cameras are mounted on the Roadster that should provide “some epic views if they
work and everything goes well,” Musk said.” “Hoping for a beautiful, nominal
flight!” Bezos wrote via Twitter. “It’s guaranteed to be exciting, one way or
another,” Musk said.”More about the planned launch:ROCKET STATS:The Falcon Heavy
has three first-stage boosters, strapped together with 27 engines in all.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, the force behind Blue Origin, offered Musk “best of luck.
It’s the inspiration of Elon Musk, the high-tech, science fiction-loving
maverick who heads SpaceX and electric car maker Tesla. At liftoff, the Heavy
packs about 5 million pounds of thrust. If the convertible makes it into space
in one piece, it still must endure several hours of deep-space coasting through
the high-energy Van Allen radiation belts encircling Earth. China Vacuum bags Factory That’s more
liftoff punch than any other rocket currently operating in the world — by a
factor of two — but less than NASA’s old space shuttles and Saturn V moon
rockets. In the language of rocket scientists, “nominal” means the rocket
behaves and the cargo reaches its target