Live view of Starman.
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That was amazing to watch. I found it as exciting as watching the original Shuttle launches.
The Shuttle reached an orbital velocity of approximately 28,000 kph. The Falcon 9 Heavy will need to reach about 29,000 kph to reach escape velocity.
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When Elon wanted to get into the launch business he went to the only people building rocket engines, the Russians. Sitting around a table with shots of vodka, they were amused by this one guy who wanted too get into the space business. They wanted 10m each for the two he wanted. He offered 10m for both, and they laughed at him. He walked out.
It’s a good read. 
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I wonder if the dashboard gets hot in the sun?
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I remember watching the Challenger explosion live in school.
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I can’t believe they didn’t add a little motor to make the steering wheel turn a little every once in a while.
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Center core was lost, but they’re not really talking about it to keep the focus on Starman… and rightfully so!
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Plot twist… Elon Musk is Starman! And he’s on the way to the Mars outpost his robots have been building out of used Falcon cores.
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It was lost? Bummer.
I about fell out of my chair watching the boosters land in unison. It was a thing of beauty.
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So what is the deal with the car? I just skimmed through the prerecording to see the launch and the two sides come back, which was awesome! But I didn’t get to find out the reasoning for the car being launched? Is there a back story I can read on the car and star Man some where?
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That was Elon Musk’s personal roadster. Basically since this was the first test flight for a new rocket design there was no way anybody would put a real payload on top of it. The Tesla serves several purposes.
It is whimsical (Musk’s words)
It cross-promotes the companies
It proves they can lift a payload to high Earth orbit and beyond
Why launch a bunch of sandbags when you can send a Tesla instead?
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it was out of warranty.
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Imagine when it shows up at Carmax* with 250,000,000 miles on it. 
*Delivery fee not included.
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I engineered a VERY SMALL part of the new Tesla’s. So small I won’t tell what it is, LOL, but still, I retain braggin’ rights 
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I’ve been following this since 10:30 am my time. watched the launch live on my phone, just as it started to lift off the feed froze and I yelled “COME ON!” everyone looked at me like I’d gone mad. I will admit here that I teared up a little watching the two boosters land in unison. absolutely amazing to watch, restored a little bit of hope and faith I’ve been missing lately. On to the next horizon!
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Yeah, that footage of Starman driving away from earth is going to make for one hell of a Tesla advertisement.
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I’m kind of embarrassed but I got more emotional than I thought I would watching it over supper on my phone.
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He has also apparently seen the movie Heavy Metal from back in 81.
Love the Don’t Panic dash highlight. Classy guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=103&v=t_KXgFpguE0
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They missed an opportunity to have a towel ready on the dashboard.
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