ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences

The Falcon Heavy rocket overshot its planned orbit around Mars and instead zoomed through space towards the Asteroid Belt at incredible speed, Elon Musk has revealed.

The impressive SpaceX rocket became the most powerful one ever to leave Earth when its gigantic engines shot it into space along with a mannequin in a sports car on Tuesday.

Billionaire entrepreneur Mr Musk transfixed earthlings with the successful launch of his magnificent spacecraft but now admits it has since unexpectedly taken something of a wrong turn.

Mr Musk, 46, described the mission as “silly and fun” as he said he hoped the incredible show of the power of space travel would “get people excited around the world”.

The business magnate, who runs the private rocket company Space X, said that before lift-off in Florida he had half-expected disaster.

SpaceX Falcon launch - In pictures 14 show all SpaceX Falcon launch - In pictures 1/14 SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral AP 2/14 SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket climbs towards space Reuters 3/14 Incredible footage shows the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket passing Earth AP 4/14 SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk Getty Images 5/14 SpaceX's gigantic Falcon Heavy rocket successfully blasted off from its launch pad SpaceX 6/14 SpaceX livestream video shows "Starman" sitting in SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's cherry red Tesla roadster after the Falcon Heavy rocket delivered it into orbit around the Earth 7/14 Incredible footage shows the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in orbit AFP/Getty Images 8/14 Printed on the circuit board of a car in deep space 9/14 Incredible footage shows the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in orbit AP 10/14 SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral AP 11/14 The crowd cheers at Playalinda Beach in the Canaveral National Seashore, just north of the Kennedy Space Center, during the successful launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket AP 12/14 Visitors have staked out spots near to the fishing pier at Jetty Park to watch the rocket launch Reuters 13/14 SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral AP 14/14 A red Tesla Roadster is seen during preparations to use it as a mock payload for the launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in Cape Canaveral, Florida REUTERS 1/14 SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral AP 2/14 SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket climbs towards space Reuters 3/14 Incredible footage shows the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket passing Earth AP 4/14 SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk Getty Images 5/14 SpaceX's gigantic Falcon Heavy rocket successfully blasted off from its launch pad SpaceX 6/14 SpaceX livestream video shows "Starman" sitting in SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's cherry red Tesla roadster after the Falcon Heavy rocket delivered it into orbit around the Earth 7/14 Incredible footage shows the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in orbit AFP/Getty Images 8/14 Printed on the circuit board of a car in deep space 9/14 Incredible footage shows the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in orbit AP 10/14 SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral AP 11/14 The crowd cheers at Playalinda Beach in the Canaveral National Seashore, just north of the Kennedy Space Center, during the successful launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket AP 12/14 Visitors have staked out spots near to the fishing pier at Jetty Park to watch the rocket launch Reuters 13/14 SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral AP 14/14 A red Tesla Roadster is seen during preparations to use it as a mock payload for the launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in Cape Canaveral, Florida REUTERS

“I had this image of a giant explosion on the pad, a wheel bouncing down the road, the Tesla logo landing somewhere,” Mr Musk said.

He has plenty of experience with rocket accidents, from his original Falcon 1 test flights to his follow-up Falcon 9s, one of which exploded on a nearby pad during an ignition test in 2016.

He said: “I’ve seen rockets blow up so many different ways, so yeah, it’s a great relief when it actually works.”

However, apart from one of the three booster rockets failing to land, as planned, the launch itself from the Kennedy Space Centre went like clockwork.

The $100,000 car is the first wheeled vehicle in space apart from moon buggies.

A space-suited mannequin was at the wheel, named “Starman” after the David Bowie song. A sign on the dashboard repeated the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy mantra “Don’t panic!” while Bowie’s Life On Mars? plays on a loop on the radio. One of the circuit boards on the car has the message “Made on Earth by humans.”

Stunning footage of the launch showed the rocket blast off as its monstrous engines roared during take-off at 3.45pm EST (8.45 UK time).

Before revealing the rocket exceeded the planned orbit, Mr Musk said the rocket was due to go into a huge oval orbit around the Sun that will take it close to Mars in about six months’ time before heading back towards Earth.

He added that it could be shuttling between Earth and Mars for a billion years.

The South Africa-born billionaire, who founded Tesla and the PayPal payment system, added: “Maybe discovered by some future alien race, thinking, What were you guys doing? Did they worship this car? Why did they have a little car? It will really confuse them.”

The powerful rocket is designed to deliver a maximum payload to low-Earth orbit of 64 tonnes, the equivalent of putting five London double-decker buses in space, at a third of the cost of the next most powerful rocket.