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Starman
in a Red Roadster buckled up is the payload housed in the nosecone for
the first test flight of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy targeting blastoff on Feb 6,
2018. Credit: SpaceX
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Ken
Kremer -- SpaceUpClose.com -- 5
Feb 2018
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – On the eve on the maiden
launch of the triple barreled SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, CEO and founder Elon
Musk released the long awaited updated launch animation showing the liftoff, recovery
of all three first stage cores and how the Heavy will send a car to Mars
The triple core
rocket will lift off from historic pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the
early afternoon during a launch window that opens at 1:30 p.m. EST on Feb. 6.
Musk’s ‘modified’ cherry red Tesla Roaster sports car is the payload on this first demonstration test flight of the Falcon Heavy. It will be hurled outward from earth on a whimsical trip to Mars on
a heliocentric orbit. It will be playing
David Bowie’s hit song ‘Space Oddity.’
A
dummy astronaut
nicknamed ‘Starman in a Red Roadster’ by Musk is wearing a SpaceX
Crew Dragon astronaut spacesuit, and buckled up sitting in the driver’s seat
for the long journey to Mars. Starman is another Bowie hit song.
The launch video is set to the tune of ‘Life on Mars’ – another David Bowie hit song likewise loved by space enthusiasts.
Video Caption
from Elon Musk/SpaceX:
Falcon
Heavy sends a car to Mars
When Falcon Heavy lifts off, it will
be the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. With
the ability to lift into orbit nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 lb)---a mass
greater than a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage and
fuel--Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest
operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy, at one-third the cost.
Falcon Heavy's first stage is
composed of three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together
generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, equal to
approximately eighteen 747 aircraft.
Following liftoff, the two side
boosters separate from the center core and return to landing sites for future
reuse. The center core, traveling further and faster than the side boosters,
also returns for reuse, but lands on a drone ship located in the Atlantic Ocean.
At max velocity the Roadster will
travel 11 km/s (7mi/s) and travel 400 million km (250 million mi) from Earth.
Read our detailed prelaunch
and launch stories.
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Up close
view of SpaceX Falcon Heavy center booster nose cone loaded with Elon Musk’s
Tesla, side booster nose cones and grid fins. Debut
liftoff slated for Feb. 6, 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com
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Watch
for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of Falcon Heavy and Falcon 9, ULA and NASA
and space mission reports direct
from the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing
Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com
–www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer - ken at kenkremer.com
………….
Ken’s upcoming outreach events:
Learn more about the upcoming SpaceX Falcon
Heavy and Falcon 9 SES-16/GovSat-1 launches on Jan. 30 & Feb. 6, NASA
missions, ULA Atlas & Delta launches, SpySats and more at Ken’s upcoming
outreach events at Kennedy Space Center Quality Inn, Titusville, FL:
Feb 6/7: “SpaceX Falcon Heavy & Falcon 9
launches, ULA Atlas USAF SBIRS GEO 4 missile warning satellite, SpaceX
GovSat-1, CRS-14 resupply launches to the ISS, NRO & USAF Spysats, SLS,
Orion, Boeing and SpaceX Commercial crew capsules, GOES-S weather satellite
launch, OSIRIS-Rex, Juno at Jupiter, InSight Mars lander, Curiosity and
Opportunity explore Mars, NH at Pluto and more,” Kennedy Space Center Quality
Inn, Titusville, FL, evenings. Photos for sale
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