Photo: Elon Musk via Instagram
And from now on, silence. The adventures of humanity's first car to reach outer space will from now on be seen by no one, as the batteries powering the cameras supposedly ran out of juice. The Roadster is currently on its way to Mars' orbit and then off to the asteroid belt.
“Last pic of Starman in Roadster on its journey to Mars orbit and then the Asteroid Belt,” tweeted Elon Musk on Wednesday. The photo shows the Starman space suit sitting behind the wheel of the electric vehicle, with a crescent of the Earth in the background.
The Roadster was shot into space on Tuesday aboard the Falcon Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch in itself was a test for SpaceX's oversized rocket, as well as for the landing capabilities of the boosters after separation. The Roadster was used as a payload in lieu of some “boring” material, as Musk said,
Two of the three boosters managed to come back and land in a spectacular fashion on the pads of the Kennedy Space Center. The third, which was supposed to land on a drone ship out at sea, crashed into the water at 300 mph after only one of its three landing rockets fired.
Regardless of this incident, the launch of Falcon Heavy was a success and, as Musk said in a press conference after the event, it will hopefully usher a new space race, this time dominated not by the fear of total annihilation, but by humanity's drive to pursue its dream of expanding to the stars.
So, there will be no more images of the Starman as it drives through the emptiness of space. But we will always know it is out there, and perhaps, hundreds of years from now, it will be found by our grandchildren's children as a testimony of how it all began.
The Roadster was shot into space on Tuesday aboard the Falcon Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch in itself was a test for SpaceX's oversized rocket, as well as for the landing capabilities of the boosters after separation. The Roadster was used as a payload in lieu of some “boring” material, as Musk said,
Two of the three boosters managed to come back and land in a spectacular fashion on the pads of the Kennedy Space Center. The third, which was supposed to land on a drone ship out at sea, crashed into the water at 300 mph after only one of its three landing rockets fired.
Regardless of this incident, the launch of Falcon Heavy was a success and, as Musk said in a press conference after the event, it will hopefully usher a new space race, this time dominated not by the fear of total annihilation, but by humanity's drive to pursue its dream of expanding to the stars.
So, there will be no more images of the Starman as it drives through the emptiness of space. But we will always know it is out there, and perhaps, hundreds of years from now, it will be found by our grandchildren's children as a testimony of how it all began.
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