The BFR on the launch pad.
The SpaceX
Falcon Heavy, also known as the
BFR which stands for “Big F**ing Rocket, successfully launched into space today, to the excited cheers of engineers and scientists. The BFR is the most powerful operational rocket in the world. Only the Saturn V moon rocket, last flown in 1973, has ever delivered a comparable payload into orbit. With a total of 27 Merlin engines,
Falcon Heavy is capable of 5 million pounds of thrust. Three cores made up the first stage of
Falcon Heavy’s test launch. The duo side cores, or boosters flanking the center core, returned to earth in perfect unison, landing on target in a dazzling display of technical prowess. SpaceX CEO/Lead Designer Elon Musk made the mission personal, by changing out the usual steel or concrete block payload, for his own midnight-cherry Tesla Roadster, in honor of the red planet. The
Falcon Heavy will attempt to place the Roadster, with its space-suited mannikin, into a continual precession, Earth-Mars elliptical orbit around the sun. And in a tribute to David Bowie, the song “Space Oddity,” from the iconic Heroes album will play in an endless loop. Musk gave the launch a 50/50 chance of success. In case you were worried, a little sign on the dashboard read:
Don’t Panic. 