It happened.
Like, it really did happen.
Last night, SpaceX successfully launched the world’s most powerful rocket into space.
And the crowd went completely wild.
Cheers and screams erupted at the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida, as the massive rocket fired its 27 engines and rumbled into the sky.
An estimated 100 000 people travelled there to watch the historic event, according to The Atlantic :
After the Heavy left the launchpad and pierced the upper reaches of the Earth’s atmosphere, the rocket’s boosters detached. In a complicated and delicate maneuver [sic] that SpaceX has nearly perfected in the last few years, the side boosters changed course and returned to Earth less than 10 minutes after liftoff, where they touched down at matching landing zones at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The center booster, which SpaceX planned to land on its drone ship off the coast in the Atlantic Ocean, didn’t make it, Musk confirmed Tuesday night a press conference with reporters at Kennedy Space Center. Musk said the booster struck the water at 300 miles per hour. It came close, though; Musk said the impact scattered debris over the ship. He said they will try to salvage some footage of the hit.
“If the cameras didn’t get blown up as well, then we’ll put that out,” he said.
And to think, seven years ago the Falcon Heavy was a mere model sitting on a table in front of a room full of journalists.
You can read more about the rocket here, and watch the event below. The launch itself happens around the 29:30 mark:
It’s payload? Elon Musk’s cherry red Tesla roadster that, along with a few unusual items, was sent into orbit around Mars, reports Business Insider:
[Inside is] a dummy named Starman (after the David Bowie song).
Right in the middle of the car, on the center screen, are the words “Don’t Panic.” It’s a reference to “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” the 1979 book that was first in a series by Douglas Adams about an accidental space traveler named Arthur Dent. In the story, the Guide itself has the words “Don’t Panic” on its cover.
Musk, who first read “The Hitchhiker’s Guide” as a teenager, has said that he loves the book. In a 2015 interview he said the spaceship from the book was his favorite [sic] from science fiction.
“I’d have to say [my favorite] would be the one in ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ that’s powered by the improbability drive,” Musk said.
That ‘Don’t Panic’ bit was a great touch, Elon.
According to The Verge, the car also contains an “Arch” storage system containing Isaac Asimov’s Foundation book series:
An Arch is a “5D, laser optical quartz storage device” that is meant to be able to survive even in the harsh conditions of space, built by the Arch Mission Foundation. The foundation’s goal is to preserve libraries of human knowledge for interstellar travel (and to protect information in the event of calamity to Earth itself).
It’s a goal that the group says was inspired by Asimov’s novels, which see mankind working to write an “Encyclopedia Galactica” to protect mankind against a coming dark age.
Two birds with one stone? Totally – Elon shared a live stream of Starman, too:
“A lot of people thought we couldn’t do it—a lot, actually,” Musk said in 2008 when, after three failed attempts, SpaceX launched the Falcon 1 rocket into orbit from an atoll in the Marshall Islands, becoming the first private rocket company to do it.
“[Reaching orbit] is normally a country thing, not a company thing.”
Now, a decade later, reaching orbit and beyond is very much a company thing – the team’s touchdown celebration below:
Listen to the @SpaceX team celebrate as both #FalconHeavy boosters touch down. This might be the most inspiring thing I’ve ever seen. pic.twitter.com/3lnEw9CbSM
— Ciro De Siena (@CiroDeSiena) February 7, 2018
Goosebumps over here.
[source:news24&theverge&businessinsider]
