Incredible footage shows the world’s most powerful rocket orbit the earth after blasting off on its maiden test flight.
Elon Musk’s Falcon Heavy cleared its launch pad at 3.45pm EST (8.45 UK time) on Tuesday as excited crowds cheered below.
The rocket carrying CEO millionaire Mr Musk’s cherry red Tesla sports car was crowned the most powerful operational rocket in the world following the successful test.
An astonishing live stream of its trip shows the massive rocket orbit the Earth after blasting off from Kennedy's Space Centre.
The rocket’s payload was manned by a mannequin in a space suit.
In the jaw-dropping footage, the dummy could be seen strapped into the driver’s seat as the vehicle entered orbit.
The impressive vehicle’s three boosters and 27 engines roared into life in Cape Canaveral.
Thousands gathered to watch as the gigantic space shuttle launched into space.
The live stream has been viewed more than five million times since it began late last night.
The Tesla and its passenger had been dispatched into an elliptical orbit around the Sun that reaches as far as Mars.
But Mr Musk has since said the spacecraft had exceeded its Mars orbit and is now travelling towards the Asteroid Belt.
Ahead of the launched, the US entrepreneur said the challenges of developing the new rocket only gave it a 50 per cent chance of a successful lift off.
Speaking after it took off, he told reporters he imagined a “giant explosion” on the pad.
But with this debut, the Falcon Heavy became the most capable launch vehicle available.
SpaceX Falcon launch - In pictures
The rocket was designed to deliver a maximum payload to low-Earth orbit of 64 tonnes. This is the equivalent of putting five London double-decker buses in space.
In the payload, the radio set to play David Bowie’s ‘Starman’ soundtrack on a loop while the mannequin astronaut travel in the spacecraft.
Tuesday’s launch attracted thousands of people, a crowd not seen since NASA's last space shuttle flight seven years ago.
Scores of journalists packed into the space centre to witness not only the launch, but the return to land of two of the Heavy's three first-stage boosters, strapped side by side by side for takeoff.
Just minutes after lift-off, the two outer boosters - recycled from previous Falcon 9 flights - completed vertical landings at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Mr Musk previously said he would consider it a win if the rocket at least cleared the launch tower.
He is already making plans for an even bigger, mightier rocket that will carry astronauts, not just cargo like the Heavy, along with the infrastructure that would be needed to set up camp on the moon and asteroids, and eventually build the city he envisions on Mars.
