Photo: SpaceX
SpaceX has accomplished a lot in the last half-decade, and with its upcoming launch of the Starship rocket, the company is looking back at a key accomplishment with one of its boosters.
Five years ago to the day, the SpaceX Falcon Heavy Booster launched a Tesla Roadster into space along with passenger mannequin dubbed ‘Starman’ (#DontPanic), as was celebrated in a video re-shared by the company on Monday. That historic date was February 6, 2018.
Five years ago today, Falcon Heavy flew for the first time → https://t.co/7Fsc4bfMpq
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 6, 2023
The launch saw the booster lifting almost 64 metric tons (141,000 lbs), representing a greater mass than a 737 jetliner complete with a crew, passengers, luggage and fuel.
SpaceX also noted in the post that Falcon Heavy had completed five launches to date, though it could complete up to five missions this year alone.
The company also said that Falcon Heavy generates over five million pounds of thrust while lifting off.
Per the mission in 2017, the Tesla Roadster and Starman are expected to orbit the sun, going a max velocity of 11km/s (7mi/s) and traveling about 400 million km (250 million miles) away from Earth.
National Geographic released a documentary called “Inside SpaceX” that detailed the behind-the-scenes of the Falcon Heavy Launch, that’s worth watching.
You can watch SpaceX’s recap of the 2017 launch, which was Falcon Heavy’s first, below. The sight of seeing two Falcon 9 boosters landing simultaneously on land is a scene out of futuristic science fiction. The third center booster just missed its landing on an autonomous droneship in the Atlantic Ocean.
