The founder and CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk, sent a Tesla Roadster into space on his Falcon Heavy Rocket on February 6th. The purpose of this was to showcase the 27 engines attached to the largest rocket SpaceX has ever produced (at 230 feet tall), and the boosters, of which the two first stage boosters fell back to Earth and landed perfectly upright at the exact same time. In addition to this, the Falcon Heavy can lift up to 64 tons to a low-Earth orbit.

The “driver” of the red Tesla Roadster is a dummy named “Starman” after a David Bowie song. In addition to naming the dummy after a David Bowie song, his hit, “Space Oddity”, was playing in the car as the rocket launched. The car also contains Douglas Adams’ book The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, and a sign containing the words “Don’t Panic”, as well as a towel, all iconic images from the book.

The launch of the Falcon Heavy Rocket was a huge step in the right direction for SpaceX, and a very important step in the new “space race” Elon Musk hopes to incite. There can only be more progress, and Elon Musk seems to be the titan that space programs need.