New rocket shoots Tesla towards Mars

cape canaveral - A brand new rocket has to start its first test flight on Tuesday. On board is immediately a striking cargo. No satellites, no astronauts, but a car. It is the red Tesla Roadster from the businessman Elon Musk.

He is not only the founder of Tesla, but also of space company SpaceX. The car must be brought into orbit around Mars. Along the way David Bowie's song Space Oddity must sound out of the speakers.

The launch should take place around 7:30 PM Dutch time from the Cape Canaveral space base in Florida. The Tesla is placed on top of the Falcon Heavy rocket. That is the strongest launcher since the rockets that brought people to the moon and back almost half a century ago. The new rocket must help to bring people back into space, in the future possibly even to Mars.

The rocket will use three so-called boosters to come off the ground. It contains 27 engines, which have the same power as eighteen Boeings 747. That is twice as strong as the most powerful rocket now. If the task of the boosters is on it, they have to return to earth and land carefully so that they can be reused.