“The fact that you have a brand-new rocket that is the most powerful rocket and it’s a success on the first try, that’s big news.”

With its large payload capacity, the Falcon Heavy is expected to help SpaceX win contracts that require more capability than its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket. The world's most powerful rocket, SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, blasted off on Tuesday on its highly anticipated maiden test flight, carrying CEO Elon Musk's cherry red Tesla Roadster toward an orbit near Mars. This all means that if the Falcon Heavy gets another run, the giant rocket may get adorned with yet more wares from Musk's big tent — say some Tesla solar roof tiles. Musk had described the attempt as “synchronized aerial ballet.” About eight minutes after liftoff, the two side boosters set down simultaneously on land. If the car survives that environment, then it will continue on to an elliptical orbit around the sun that at times will come close to Mars, with an “extremely tiny” chance it will hit the Red Planet, though Musk said, “I wouldn’t hold your breath.”

The journey of Starman and the Tesla is being live-streamed by SpaceX on YouTube. SpaceX’s webcast showed the Tesla Roadster soaring into space, as David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” played in the background — with the words “DON’T PANIC” visible on the dashboard, in an apparent nod to the sci-fi series the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”

Musk posted a live video showing the “Starman” mannequin appearing to cruise, its gloved hand on the wheel, through the darkness of space, with the Earth’s image reflected on the car’s glossy red surface.
SpaceX successfully launches its Falcon Heavy rocket, a feat the space company hopes will lead to increased commercial and national security missions. Both boosters were successfully landed and recovered. The core didn't land and was softly ditched in the water near the drone ship. The rocket launched Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster, playing "Life on Mars" by David Bowie, which is expected to be in an elliptic orbit of the sun, close to Mars, for several hundred million years.