The photoset on Musk's Instagram account reminds everyone that test flights usually contain mass in the form of concrete or steel blocks to test load capacity. Instead, Musk decided to launch his own Roadster into an elliptical orbit around the sun, which he says should last a billion years. Which, obviously, may be a bit of hyperbole. Even still, this is some unforgettable imagery, which will likely burn itself into our collective minds as we think of Tesla, Musk or Space X. Which is probably the point.

A post shared by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on Dec 22, 2017 at 10:47am PST