The long-anticipated launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket brought excitement to those who watched the launch, the landing on the boosters and, finally, the cherry red Tesla and Starman sailing through space.
SpaceX released a video on Sunday that brings all those emotions and more right back. Set to David Bowie's "Life On Mars?" the video is a montage of clips from the setup and preparation of the Falcon Heavy, as well as the launch and finale.
Musk debuted the video on Twitter, where he makes many of his announcements. He tweeted that he and the rest of SpaceX did the launch for the public.
"Life cannot just be about solving one sad problem after another. There need to be things that inspire you, that make you glad to wake up in the morning and be part of humanity. That is why we did it. We did for you," Musk wrote on Twitter.
The Falcon Heavy rocket is one of the most powerful to ever launch, and can carry a mass greater than that of a 737 jet filled with passengers and cargo. For the maiden test launch, the company figured it best to send something meaningful to end up in orbit in space. It sent up Musk's Tesla, Starman (one of the suits humans wear in space), a high-tech data storage unit, a plaque with the names of SpaceX employees and a mini Roadster.
The rocket was originally made to send humans to deep space and to Mars, and "Restores the possibility of flying missions with crew to the Moon or Mars," according to SpaceX.
But SpaceX is no longer planning on using the Heavy or crewed missions, SpaceNews reported. The change wasn't due to the fact that the rocket wasn't adequate; rather, the company was making such rapid progress on an even larger rocket, dubbed Big F*cking Rocket, that it would no longer need to use the Falcon Heavy for launching crew.
Uncommon Knowledge
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About the writer
Nina was a breaking news reporter. She previously worked at Business Insider, The Boston Globe, and Boston.com.
