The Russian space agency Roscosmos believes launching a Falcon Heavy rocket with an expensive Tesla Roadster as a payload was a good marketing trick from Elon Musk’s Tesla Company.
“The point is there are private companies that do business very well and that are interested in drawing more investment,” Roscosmos’ spokesman Igor Burenkov said on the Ekho Moskvy radio station, according to Russian news agency Tass .
Burenkov said companies try to boost their business by arranging different types of promotional events. According to Burenkov, Musk’s Tesla Company is not doing excellent in the business of late, and it was an excellent marketing trick to send a Tesla car into space while testing the Falcon Heavy rocket.
“The rocket put in space not some worthless dummy, a payload nobody will be sorry to lose, but a very specific motor vehicle,” Burenkov stated.
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket blasted off on February 6, 2018, from the 39A launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rocket was launched from the same pad that was earlier used by NASA in the 1960s to launch the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. SpaceX rocket carried with it Tesla’s first-generation $100,000 red Roadster that has been personally used by Elon Musk.
The successful launch of Falcon Heavy rocket was one of the most-awaited events in the U.S. and across the world. Thousands of people traveled to Florida’s Space Coast to witness the lift-off of the world’s most powerful rocket from the Kennedy Space Center. Several roads in the area remained jammed for hours after the successful launch of the rocket, according to USA Today .
Yes, this is a real photo. That’s a @Tesla Roadster in space, with a “Starman” at the wheel. It was sent up Tuesday as the payload with @SpaceX ‘s Falcon Heavy rocket. https://t.co/ewShrD6ZWm
?: AFP photo / SpaceX pic.twitter.com/84WH6UCh7V
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) February 7, 2018
The SpaceX’s plans to build a Falcon Heavy were first revealed in 2011. Although SpaceX had planned to complete the rocket as early as 2013 or 2014, failures of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket delayed the development of Falcon Heavy rocket. According to Musk, this project was way harder than they had anticipated.
During a post-launch news conference at the Kennedy Space Center, Musk said the successful launch of the Falcon Heavy will encourage other countries “to raise their sights.”
“We want a new space race.”
. @ElonMusk ‘s red Tesla is now floating in space. ? pic.twitter.com/PMkr1MtyKQ
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) February 7, 2018
On Wednesday, February 7, 2018, Musk’s Tesla Roadster and its dummy pilot Starman had exceeded their planned trajectory and were moving towards the asteroid belt, according to the Guardian .
“Third burn successful. Exceeded Mars orbit and kept going to the Asteroid Belt,” Musk said in a tweet.
Musk’s Roadster will now complete a months-long journey through deep space before attempting to arrive in the circumstellar asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. According to experts, Tesla Roadster and the Starman will face a huge risk of devastating collision after their arrival in the asteroid belt.