Tesla Roadster that Elon Musk launched into space travels at 25,000 km/h and may return to Earth

Tesla Roadster that Elon Musk launched into space travels at 25,000 km/h and may return to Earth (YouTube @SpaceX)

In 2018, Elon Musk surprised the world by launching one of his own cars, a Tesla Roadster, into space as a test payload on the inaugural flight of the Falcon Heavy rocket from SpaceX.

Inside the car, a mannequin nicknamed “Starman“, dressed in a spacesuit, was placed, along with curious items like a Hot Wheels car and a copy of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy“. The song “Space Oddity” by David Bowie was set to play on the car’s sound system.

According to Musk, the idea was to send something “silly” into space while leaving a marker of human civilization in case, in the future, we live on other planets.

Despite the drop in Tesla‘s stock value and Musk’s recent political closeness to Donald Trump, he remains the richest man in the world and continues to be involved in ambitious projects. The Roadster, for example, has been in space for seven years and can be tracked in real time through the website Where is Roadster?. Currently, the car is more than 360 million kilometers from Earth but is rapidly approaching, exceeding 25,000 km/h.

If the car were to return to Earth, there are concerns about potential damage, but as long as it doesn’t hit people or structures, Musk would likely not face any consequences. Still, the fate of the Roadster remains uncertain; perhaps it will end up serving as a museum piece, as Musk dreams, or simply continue its solitary journey through space.

+ Click here to see Elon Musk’s car in space

Tesla Roadster that Elon Musk launched into space travels at 25,000 km/h and may return to Earth (YouTube @SpaceX)

Source: LADbible | Photo: YouTube @SpaceX | This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team