SpaceX launches world s most powerful operational rocket

Washington Feb 7 (IANS) SpaceX on Tuesday launched the world s most powerful operational rocket into space in a much-hyped demonstration mission deemed to have the potential to bring a revolution in the space industry.

The Falcon Heavy blasted off from Florida s Kennedy Space Center at 3:45 p.m. EST (2145 GMT) carrying something just for fun: a red Tesla Roadster belonging to SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk Xinhua reported.

Eventually the rocket s second stage will try to place the Roadster playing David Bowie s Space Oddity into a Mars-adjacent orbit.

"We estimate it ll be in that orbit for several hundred million years maybe even in excess of a billion years " Musk told reporters during a media call.

The tech billionaire has repeatedly played down expectations for the launch saying that the mission might end in explosion.

"This is a test mission as I said there s so much that can go wrong so we don t want to set expectations of perfection " he said.

"I would consider it a win if it just clears the pad and doesn t blow the pad to smithereens."

But so far everything has gone as planned with the rocket s two side boosters landing simultaneously back on ground about eight minutes after liftoff.

--IANS
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