Yes, Spacex launched Musk's personal Tesla roadster into space with a robotic mannequin in the front seat. It is currently on it's way towards Mars. It will pass pretty far from it and then go into an elliptical orbit between Mars and Earth. The roadster has David Bowie's 'Life on Mars' on continuous play on its stereo. The stamp 'Don't Panic' on its dashboard is of course from 'The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy' which it also has a copy of in the glove box alongside a towel which is also from the book.
There is also apparently a Hot Wheels Tesla car on the dashboard as well; at least that's what Elon mentioned.
"If you look on the dashboard, there's a tiny Roadster with a tiny space man," Musk said, referring to a small Hot Wheels version of the Roadster mounted on the dash. "It's kind of silly and fun but I think that silly and fun things are important... I think the imagery is something that's going to get people excited around the world. It's still trippin' me out. I'm trippin' balls here."
What a great quote and what a great novel idea. I’m glad a private entity did this though. If the government did this it would’ve been lambasted and in the news for too long.
I will be watching these videos for awhile. Playbacks of the live feed from the Tesla, the 10 minute launch/landing and the Space X animated video where they animate what happened (minus losing the core).
The crowd reaction is one of the best parts of these videos. Just watching the celebration(s) helps me forget all of the toxic news we've been succumbed to as we watch history and space advancements being made. I'm looking forward to the next Falcon Heavy launch where all three rockets successfully land.
And on the tiny dashboard of that tiny car is an ant-sized car containing a flea-sized man, and onward down to the atomic level. Musk does not do half-measures.
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u/camlegacy Feb 07 '18
Wait that’s a real pic ?