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SpaceX made history yesterday as they launched the powerful Falcon Heavy rocket into space with the founder, Elon Musk’s, Tesla car onboard.
The rocket left Kennedy Space Center in Florida yesterday shortly after 3.45pm EST (8.45pm GMT) with one of the billionaire’s cherry-red electric cars in the payload cargo.
Thousands of people cheered as the Falcon Heavy rocket blasted into space with the Tesla car now barrelling towards Mars.
In the footage, SpaceX’s boosters could be seen returning back to earth and performing a synchronised landing.
The third booster was planned to detach from the rocket and land itself on an autonomous drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
As the two boosters returned to Cape Canaveral and landed on twin pads, sonic booms from the Falcon Heavy rocket continuing its journey into space can be heard.
The Falcon 9 boosters touched down and are planned to be used in future missions.
Earlier in December last year, the South African tech entrepreneur, Mr Musk said: “Test flights of new rockets usually contain mass simulators in the form of concrete or steel blocks. That seemed extremely boring.
“Of course, anything boring is terrible, especially companies, so we decided to send something unusual, something that made us feel.
“The payload will be an original Tesla Roadster, playing Space Oddity, on a billion-year elliptic Mars orbit.”
SpaceX said before the launch: “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 draws upon the proven heritage and reliability of Falcon 9.”
In the successful launch, footage has also appeared of Mr Musk’s Tesla sports car gliding past the Earth on its journey to the Red Planet.
An image of the car heading towards Mars showed the cherry-red sports car displaying a comical message reading “don’t panic” on the dashboard.
Despite carrying the car into space, the aim of the missile is to test the Falcon Heavy’s space-faring capabilities for future manned missions to Mars.