First car in space today!

[Sunshine]

My nerves are on edge today, i feel like it is my rocket sitting on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, today SpaceX will launch the biggest and most powerful rocket short of the SaturnV, 5 million pounds of thrust will be unleashed in what is a test flight

of the Falcon9 Heavy.

Payload? Elon Musk's own cherry red Tesla roadster will (if successful) be placed into an Earth/Mars orbit while playing David Bowie's Space Oddity on the radio on repeat lol, yes this has no value whatsoever but it is a test flight regardless and why not advertise while at it, its brilliant from a business POV.

All that aside the launch will take place sometime during the launch window of 1:30-4:00 pm in Florida, i will post here the live stream window which will begin broadcast at 1:28 EST, if this little bottle rocket pulls off its task, i have hope of seeing a person on mars

befor i take my dirt nap.

 

http://www.spacex.com/webcast

 

[Craney]

Thought a  Vauxhall Astra would be more appropriate.......   

 

[Alan White]

I can see the fun side of this from Elon Musk and his humour, but....

We have enough pointless space debris, why add a Car to it, is it cheaper than recycling the batteries? 

[iPeace]

44 minutes ago, Alan White said:

I can see the fun side of this from Elon Musk and his humour, but....

We have enough pointless space debris, why add a Car to it, is it cheaper than recycling the batteries? 

No idea who that is, and not the slightest interest.

[Ampthill]

You wouldnt hear the radio though ?

[MarsG76]

Looks great on the photo. There is a Tesla shop just down the road from me, when I had a look at the Tesla cars, they seems very flimsy, plasticy and like in the slightest prang, or a larger speed bump or pot hole, it would just fall apart.... I think I'll stick to petrol power for the near future....

 

[Sunshine]

No, you would not hear the radio in space im sure.

[groberts]

I don't want to seem pedantic but isn't this the first car in space + it was driven on the Moon in the Apollo 15 / 16 / 17 missions?

Still, looking forward to today's launch which holds much promise.

 

  

[Stub Mandrel]

Most expensive scrappage scheme in history...

They have to use something as ballast, its orbit will take it well beyond the risk of being space-junk.

They were going to launch an Audi, but it got vetoed as they thought it was likely to end up tailgating the ISS.

[Sunshine]

 That Tesla may be slated to enter either Earth or Mars atmosphere and burn up maybe, i can't see them leaving it in orbit forever.

[Sunshine]

11 minutes ago, MarsG76 said:

they seems very flimsy, plasticy and like in the slightest prang, or a larger speed bump or pot hole, it would just fall apart.

two of my neighbours own teslas for 4 years now, they use them a lot for family road trips, i often ask how they're holding up and believe it or not even through our brutal winters they seem solid, one neighbour let me take one out for an hour long spin

and the thing didn't make so much as a creak as i drove which is super after 4 years on road.

[VNA]

My understanding is the Tesla will be orbiting between Mars and the Sun. It could melt if it gets too close since the body is fiberglass.

[Knighty2112]

For a guy that sounds more like a male deodorant, he obviously has more money than sense. Way too much junk up there as it is! Should be a law prohibiting junk been flown up into space! 

[RT65CB-SWL]

I used to have respect for Mr Elon Musk... but after reading and seeing a video on a news site, he has invented a 'toy' flame-thrower... and now this publicity for a publicity stunt... I am having second doubts.

elon... isn't that an abbreviation for elongated. 

[Sunshine]

Yes im sure the thousands of brilliant minds at spaceX and nasa completely overlooked the space junk aspect lol, really, im sure that is figured out, it will not end up circling around risking future missions lol.

[Sunshine]

6 minutes ago, Philip R said:

I used to have respect for Mr Elon Musk... but after reading and seeing a video on a news site, he has invented a 'toy' flame-thrower... and now this publicity for a publicity stunt...

Are there actually people believing that 10 years went into developing the falcon heavy and hundreds of millions of dollars and man hours put into launching a car in space for a publicity stunt?? (could have been done with much smaller falcon 9 years ago) that would be like saying NASA launched monkeys into space

in order to try and start a chimpanzee colony on mars one day lol. (they're testing out a new rocket slated for a mars mission people) lol everything else is publicity but only opportunistic and not the main goal.

[DaveS]

They have to put *something* on top of the rocket, and nobody in their right mind would risk a multimillion dollar satelite on an untested rocket. Might as well be a car as a lump of iron.

[LightBucket]

Hey we are all the same boys and our toys....and if I was a billionaire then why they hell not build a rocket and send a car into space....why you ask...? Because he can....

And the Tesla cars are superb...I would buy one tomorrow if I had the money, far better than anything on our roads today, so kudos to him for that, and to be honest the petrol and diesel cars on our roads are doing far more damage to the planet than any car floating around in space will ever do...

[VNA]

24 minutes ago, Philip R said:

I used to have respect for Mr Elon Musk... but after reading and seeing a video on a news site, he has invented a 'toy' flame-thrower... and now this publicity for a publicity stunt... I am having second doubts.

elon... isn't that an abbreviation for elongated. 

Putting a few blocs of concrete is not very exciting, but a Tesla for a test flight is a lot more fun and it is also a daring publicity stunt for a great car.

[RT65CB-SWL]

Mind you if the Tesla survives re-entry and lands in my parking area at home or work and passes the MoT, then I will thank him.  

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, Sunshine said:

 That Tesla may be slated to enter either Earth or Mars atmosphere and burn up maybe, i can't see them leaving it in orbit forever.

I saw a quote stating the orbit was stable for at least a billion years!

[Chris]

I can't decide if this is stupid or the most amazing thing ever. I'm leaning towards amazing so I'll be following with great interest 

[Louis D]

1 hour ago, groberts said:

I don't want to seem pedantic but isn't this the first car in space + it was driven on the Moon in the Apollo 15 / 16 / 17 missions?

Still, looking forward to today's launch which holds much promise.

 

  

Well, to be even more pedantic, that was more of an off-road vehicle like a dune buggy, not really a car in the traditional sense of a road license-able vehicle.

Of course, I really like the Cadillac ELR ad with this line about the lunar rover and Americans: "Were we nuts when we pointed to the moon? That’s right, we went up there, and you know what we got? Bored. So we left. Got a car up there, left the keys in it. Do you know why? Because we’re the only ones going back up there. That’s why."

[brantuk]

Interesting...... cos I was thinking of driving my car very fast down the motorway and throwing a rocket out of the sunroof lol.

 

[MarsG76]

2 hours ago, groberts said:

I don't want to seem pedantic but isn't this the first car in space + it was driven on the Moon in the Apollo 15 / 16 / 17 missions?

Still, looking forward to today's launch which holds much promise.

 

  

GOOD POINT!!!!!! Elon just got burned