If you’re a billionaire businessman who happens to own an automotive brand and a space-transport company, we guess you can do pretty much anything you fancy. Like, say, flinging your personal car into outer space. Exactly what Elon Musk did.
On February 6, SpaceX, which Musk founded in 2002 to fulfill every sci-fi fanatic’s wet dream, launched its Falcon Heavy rocket. Two months before this, on December 1, Musk had announced on his Twitter account:
Payload will be my midnight-cherry Tesla Roadster playing “Space Oddity.” Destination is Mars orbit. Will be in deep space for a billion years or so if it doesn’t blow up on ascent.
Of course, it didn’t blow up. And so the whole world was treated to these breathtaking images…
The car is a Tesla Roadster Musk himself used to drive when it was still on Earth. It is, of course, also a product of a company he owns—a model produced from 2008 to 2012. In the driver’s seat is Starman, an astronaut dummy wearing a pressurized space suit. Prior to launch, SpaceX had put the Roadster through a series of simulation tests to ensure its successful voyage.
What a spectacular feat, isn’t it? But to us, the most impressive thing about this car is that little detail printed on its circuit board, which says: “Made on Earth by humans.” Not in the USA and not by Americans, but on planet Earth and by human beings. We like that.
If only all people around the globe could adopt the same mindset in all our affairs, this world would be a much better place to live in. No territories, no flags, no nationalities. Just one race trying to reach the stars together.
Maybe that’s why they call it science fiction.
Comments