
The most powerful rocket to leave Earth since the Apollo missions launched from Florida yesterday.

The Falcon Heavy jumbo rocket, developed by flamboyant SpaceX billionaire Elon Musk, had a sole 'passenger' onboard - a mannequin named 'Starman' - who rode to space inside a Tesla roadster.

Incredible real-time footage has emerged from inside the car which is now travelling at 24,500mph (39,400km/h) as David Bowie's Life on Mars plays in the background.

Starman was meant to be on a 250-million-mile (400 million km) journey to orbit the red planet, but the dummy is heading further out into the solar system towards the asteroid belt as one of Falcon Heavy's boosters burned for too long.

Musk said the 'silly and fun' mission was a success because it will 'get people excited around the world', although the rocket's central booster failed to return to Earth as planned.

Falcon Heavy's flight could open up the prospect of far cheaper space launches, making travel to Mars more achievable.

Cosmic radiation will now gradually tear the car to pieces, with the Roadster's seat leather and plastics expected to fall apart in the next year - provided the vehicle avoids collisions with space junk and micrometeorites.

SpaceX's Starman dummy launched into space on the maiden voyage of Falcon Heavy, the world's most powerful rocket. This still image taken from a real-time SpaceX video shows Starman sitting in CEO Elon Musk's cherry red Tesla roadster after the rocket delivered it into orbit around the Earth. It is currently travelling through space at 24,500mph (39,400km/h)

Viewers of yesterday's launch livestream were left with video images beamed from space of Musk's red Roadster circling the blue planet after its protective covering had dropped away and exposed the car.

In the middle of the vehicle, on the centre screen, the words 'Don't Panic' were printed - a reference to the book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, about an accidental space traveller, Arthur Dent.

'It's kind of silly and fun, but I think that silly and fun things are important,' said Musk, who is CEO of both SpaceX and electric car firm Tesla.

'The imagery of it is something that's going to get people excited around the world.'

Despite the rocket's success, it ultimately missed the target set by Musk before the big day to perform a close flyby of Mars as it reached the red planet's orbital path around the sun.

The billionaire tweeted about the error during the flight, writing: 'Third burn successful. Exceeded Mars orbit and kept going to the Asteroid Belt.'

Soon after the launch, Elon Musk tweeted a live feed of the car, and its 'Starman' dummy driver with Australia in the background. The roadster was still attached to the rocket module in this image as it floated above the planet shortly after launch

Elon Musk admitted SpaceX overshot Falcon Heavy's third booster burn, sending Starman (green line) beyond the orbit of Mars and further into the solar system than was originally planned. He tweeted this graphic with the caption: 'Third burn successful. Exceeded Mars orbit and kept going to the Asteroid Belt'

In the middle of this live stream image of the car, on the center screen, are the words 'Don't Panic'. This a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the 1979 book that was first in a series by Douglas Adams about an accidental space traveler, Arthur Dent. In the story, the Guide has the words 'Don't Panic' on its cover

Two of the Falcon Heavy's reusable boosters - both recycled from previous launches - returned minutes after lift-off for on-the-mark touchdowns at Cape Canaveral.

Sonic booms rumbled across the region with the synchronised vertical landings.

However, the craft's third and final booster missed its target - a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean - by about 328 feet (100 metres).

In a press conference after the historic launch, Musk said early reports show the rocket's central core 'hit the water at 300 miles per hour (480kph) and sprayed the drone ship with shrapnel'.

The Tesla containing Starman was used as a 'mass simulator' to test how the rocket's flight fared while carrying a payload. When Musk first posed the idea, most people assumed he was joking. The car was then released from the rocket module it was attached to as it passed through the Van Allen radiation belt at around 3.46am GMT today (10pm ET Tuesday)

WHY DID SPACEX LAUNCH A CAR INTO SPACE AND WAS ITS FALCON HEAVY FLIGHT SUCCESSFUL? What was the launch trying to achieve? The Falcon Heavy test flight was mostly a proof-of-concept, showing the world it is possible to successfully fly a rocket with thee re-usable boosters beyond orbit. SpaceX has previously only launched what it calls 'Falcon 9' rockets, which each have a single re-usable booster. Rockets are normally loaded with concrete or steel blocks during test flights to see how spacecraft perform with a payload, but in December SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the firm would load their rocket with his Tesla Roadster instead. Musk said that the company planned to aim the rocket so the electric car reached Mars' orbital path around the sun about six months after launch. The billionaire added that the car could pass close to the red planet as it crossed its orbit, though he admitted this was 'extremely unlikely'. What does SpaceX gain from the flight? SpaceX was built around the idea that reusable rockets could drastically reduce the cost of carrying cargo into space for paying customers, such as satellites or space station resupplies. Showing that the huge Falcon Heavy rocket actually works is important if SpaceX plans to sell cargo space on the craft in future, with the company planning to charge customers $90 million (£65 million) per flight. Now Falcon Heavy has launched, it could soon begin missions for SpaceX's clients, which include Nasa, Nato and the US National Reconnaissance Office. As with previous SpaceX rocket launches, the test also generated a flurry of media attention for the company, helped along by Musk's quirky social media posts. Has SpaceX achieved its goals? Elon Musk repeatedly warned that Falcon Heavy would likely explode on the launchpad as a result of its sheer power, so by getting it beyond Earth's orbit SpaceX has already surpassed the billionaire's expectations. The rocket took its unusual cargo into space before its three cores separated from the main module, leaving Musk's Tesla on a mission into deep space. Two of the craft's three re-usable cores landed successfully back at Cape Canaveral, Florida, while the third crashed into the ocean and exploded when two of its re-entry boosters failed during its return to Earth. Musk later said that SpaceX had slightly overcooked one of the rocket's booster burns, sending the main module out of its planned trajectory. He said the car will likely end up further into the solar system than intended, missing Mars. In short, the rocket made it beyond Earth's orbit - SpaceX's primary goal - but missed its targets to re-land all three cores and send Musk's Tesla to Mars. Does that matter? SpaceX's failure to re-land all three of its boosters will be a concern for potential customers, man of whom may want to see a fully successful test flight before buying a slot on a Falcon Heavy mission. Ultimately, the hiccup is unlikely to cut demand for commercial Falcon Heavy flights when they begin in the near future. In 2016, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded on its launchpad, destroying a $200 million (£145 million) Israeli satellite, but the firm has since launched more than 20 Falcon 9 craft carrying cargo for paying customers. Despite the faults, the launch has still been hailed by industry experts as a game-changer because of its potential to propel the California-based company to the very forefront of the modern day space race. Once it irons out the errors, SpaceX will offer cargo rides aboard the most powerful operational rocket in the world, capable of carrying twice the capacity of any other spacecraft. Where is Musk's Tesla now? The Falcon Heavy's unusual cargo was sent into an unplanned trajectory when SpaceX accidentally over-fired the rocket's third booster stage. The booster stages were supposed to make small adjustments to the vehicle's path before it disconnected from the final rocket component and began to coast unaided through space at around 7 miles per second (11 km/s). Instead of intersecting with Mars' orbit around the sun, the Tesla missed by some distance, flying past the planet at an unknown distance and continuing deep into the solar system. On Twitter, Musk said the car 'exceeded Mars orbit and kept going to the Asteroid Belt', referring to the disk of asteroids in the solar system between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. SpaceX had said before launch that they had no plans to track the Tesla, and with the firm's cameras running out of battery 12 hours into the vehicle's journey, it's almost impossible to tell where Starman is now. Advertisement

Rumours had already surfaced that the central core had missed its target after SpaceX cut its live video feed of the autonomous drone ship, named Of Course I Still Love You, minutes before the booster was due to land.

Musk said the landing failed after just one of core's three engines re-lit for the landing burn, causing it to crash into the surface of the ocean.

Musk told reporters there were no plans to re-use the booster, even if it had been recovered.

Test flights of new rockets usually contain mass simulators in the form of concrete or steel blocks. Elon Musk said in December that these simulators are 'extremely boring', adding that SpaceX had decided to send his Tesla up instead. A series of live camera feeds gave viewers stunning views of Earth as seen from the payload

Starman was meant to be on a 250-million-mile (400 million km) journey to Mars' orbit, propelled by the main module, which separated from Falcon Heavy shortly after launch. This image shows Starman behind the wheel of the Tesla as it spins through space above the Earth after escaping the planet's atmosphere

SpaceX failed to align the Tesla with Mars' orbit after one of its boosters burned for too long, instead sending the Roadster on a journey into the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. This image shows the view back toward Earth from the live feed

With the car's trajectory now 'off-script', it's unclear what will happen to the vehicle. Before Falcon Heavy launched, Musk said there was only a small chance that his Tesla would ever reach Mars. The firm has now stopped tracking the vehicle, pictured here in the live stream

SpaceX has not confirmed whether the car's new trajectory means it is likely to hit a different planet. Planetary scientists on Twitter have asked the firm for its cargo's exact orbit to calculate the Tesla's odds of collision. Here, Starman can be seen behind the wheel of the Tesla in an image from the live video

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO ELON MUSK'S STARMAN AND HIS TESLA ROADSTER NOW THEY ARE IN SPACE? Where is the roadster going? Starman was meant to be on a 250-million-mile (400m km) journey to Mars' orbit, propelled by the main module, which separated from Falcon Heavy shortly after launch. But in a slight hiccup, Elon Musk admitted SpaceX overshot Falcon Heavy's third booster burn, sending Starman further into the solar system than was originally planned. The new orbit will sent the Roadster on a journey into the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. What will happen to it? The main force that will tear the car apart over hundreds of millions of years in space is radiation. This will particularly affect the plastics and carbon-fibre frame. '[Those materials] are made up largely of carbon-carbon bonds and carbon-hydrogen bonds,' Dr William Carroll, a chemist at Indiana University told Live Science. Starman was meant to be on a 250-million-mile (400m km) journey to Mars' orbit, propelled by the main module, which separated from Falcon Heavy shortly after launch On Earth we are protected by a powerful magnetic field and atmosphere that shields us from the worst of radiation from the sun and cosmic rays. Radiation in space causes those bonds to break which will eventually cause the car to fall to pieces. 'When you cut something with a knife, in the end, you're cutting some chemical bonds,' Dr Carroll said. 'All of the organics will be subjected to degradation by the various kinds of radiation that you will run into there,' he said. How long will it last? 'Those organics, in that environment, I wouldn't give them a year,' Dr Carroll said. The well-secured inorganic materials, such as the aluminium frame and internal metals, would last longer, meaning it could still be recognisable in at least a million years. However, it is unlikely it will avoid all collisions with micrometeorites and other space junk in the meantime. Before the launch Musk said there was a chance the car might hit Mars. Now on its new path it's not clear whether the car might run into some other space object. Advertisement

SpaceX technicians were overheard saying 'we lost the centre core' in a clip of live video taken during launch at the firm's Mission Control centre near Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Despite the central booster malfunction, the firm did manage to complete the remarkable feat of landing Falcon Heavy's other two reusable boosters simultaneously.

Stunning video from yesterday's launch shows the twin boosters returning to Cape Canaveral in a synchronised landing.

The massive rocket launched at 3:45 p.m. ET, carrying Elon Musk's cherry red Tesla roadster on board.

The rocket soared through the sky to massive cheers from the crowd below . Hundreds gathered to watch the historic event at Cape Canaveral, Florida, yesterday

Spectators at Cocoa Beach, Florida, looked up in amazement at the Falcon Heavy launch yesterday from the Kennedy Space Center

SpaceX's successful Falcon Heavy launch might have been impressive, but the firm lost one of the enormous rocket's reusable boosters, CEO Elon Musk has confirmed. Pictured is the rocket as it launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, yesterday

Falcon Heavy launched with three reusable rocket cores that were supposed to return to Earth, but the craft's central booster missed its target - a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean - by about 328 feet (100 metres). The drone ship, dubbed Of Course I Still Love You (pictured in 2015), has previously been used by SpaceX to successfully land Falcon 9 rockets

Just over three minutes into the launch, the side boosters detached from the rocket and launch operators confirmed the rocket was on the right trajectory.

After shedding from the core section of the rocket, the two reusable side boosters landed seamlessly back on Earth about eight minutes into the launch.

The rocket appeared to have successfully jettisoned its third and final core, but SpaceX's live stream cut out before it landed, with the firm later confirming it had lost the booster.

In an incredible accomplishment, Falcon Heavy's side boosters landed smoothly back down to Earth on two separate launchpads about eight minutes in. 'The Falcons have landed' the announcers said, as people cheered and whooped wildly in the background

Yesterday's successful launch marked the maiden flight of what's now the most powerful operational rocket in the world.

'You've heard the call out - vehicle is supersonic' the announcer said, as the rocket soared through the sky to massive cheers from the crowd below.

'The Falcons have landed' the announcers said, as onlookers cheered and whooped wildly in the background.

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy megarocket finally blasted off from the launchpad at Cape Canaveral, carrying Elon Musk's cherry red Tesla Roadster yesterday

In a statement, SpaceX said: 'It was an outstanding test flight of the Falcon Heavy.

'Everything that you could want in a test flight - we got here,' the team said.

A view inside the Roadster showed one last look at the dummy, dubbed Starman, behind the wheel on its journey to Mars.

'Upper stage restart nominal, apogee raised to 7000km,' Musk tweeted shortly after the launch.

'Will spend 5 hours getting zapped in Van Allen belts & then attempt final burn for Mars.'

Falcon Heavy successfully lifted off on Tuesday afternoon. It can be seen above soaring high over the Cape Canaveral site. 'You've heard the call out - vehicle is supersonic' the announcer said, as the rocket soared through the sky to massive cheers from the crowd below

After leaving Earth, the Roadster and its passenger 'Star Man' are now off to travel alone on a 250 million mile (400m km) journey into deep space. It was propelled by the main module, which separated from Falcon Heavy shortly after launch. The dummy and the car can be seen above far above Earth in this live stream image taken following yesterday's successful launch

After pushing back the launch time twice yesterday due to wind speeds, the massive rocket launched at 3:45 pm ET (8:45pm GMT), just before the launch window was set to close. Above, a view of the main module can be seen just after the side boosters split off

The SpaceX team confirmed immediately after launch that the massive rocket was operating according to plan. Just minutes later, it prepared for its side boosters to split off from the central core, as seen above

The SpaceX CEO also shared an update on Starman's journey beyond Earth.

'View from SpaceX Launch Control. Apparently, there is a car in orbit around Earth,' Musk quipped yesterday.

After five years of setbacks, the massive rocket capable of achieving a thrust equivalent to more than 18 Boeing 747 jetliners finally took its maiden flight.

According to Musk, it will take roughly six months for the car to complete the more than 200 million mile journey to reach the red planet.

And, it's expected to remain in orbit for about a billion years.

This view inside the Roadster show the dummy behind the wheel on its journey to Mars, around four minutes after launch. The progress of the journey can be seen at the bottom of the image readouts from various monitoring instruments can be seen top right

Ahead of yesteerday's launch, Musk released a stunning animation revealing how the plan would work.

The billionaire SpaceX CEO said the firm's Falcon Heavy spacecraft would carry his Roadster on a billion-year journey through space 'if it doesn't explode into tiny pieces'.

A video posted to Musk's Instagram account showed how the huge rocket would lift off from Florida in its first ever test flight.

Elon Musk's Roadster and its solitary passenger, the mannequin 'Starman,' can be seen soaring through the sky after Falcon Heavy launched yesterday in this live captured image. The beautiful blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean can be seen in the background

The Tesla Roadster was due to carry out a 200 million mile journey to Earth-Mars orbit. Its planned path is illustrated in the graphic above. Had it been successful, it would have continued to circle this path, in theory, for billions of years, according to Musk. Plans went awry when the rockets boosters burned for too long and the vehicle will no longer reach the red planet

Yesterday Musk assured spectators cameras on the vehicle would provide 'epic views' as it travels to Mars.

Most new rockets carry concrete or steel blocks on test flights to simulate the weight of a real payload, but Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla, has previously said that this method is 'extremely boring'.

He said SpaceX decided to send Musk's car as it was 'something unusual, something that made us feel.'

In yesterday's Instagram post, Musk wrote: 'Falcon Heavy launches to Mars orbit tomorrow.

'If it doesn't explode into tiny pieces, it will carry Starman in Roadster over 400 million km from Earth at 11 km/sec on a billion year journey through deep space', he wrote yesterday.

SpaceX spent weeks preparing for the first test launch of its Falcon Heavy, which aims to one day take payloads to the moon or Mars.

It has been hailed by industry experts as a game-changer because of its potential to propel the California-based company to the very forefront of the modern day space race.

SpaceX spent weeks preparing for the first test launch of its Falcon Heavy, which aims to become the world's most powerful rocket in operation, with the capacity to one day take payloads to the moon or Mars

HOW DOES THE SPACEX FALCON HEAVY MEASURE UP? Height: 70 meters (229.6 feet) Stages: Two Boosters: Two Re-usable Cores: Three Engines: 27 Payload to Low Earth Orbit: 63,800kg (140,660 lb) Payload to Mars: 16,800kg (37,040 lb) Total width: 12.2m (39.9 ft) Mass: 1,420,788kg (3,125,735 lb) Total thrust at lift-off: 22,819 kilonewtons (5.13 million pounds) When it launches, Falcon Heavy (left) will be the world's most powerful rocket, capable of carrying payloads far greater than even the Apollo 11 space shuttle (second from left) Advertisement

Yesterday's successful launch marked the maiden flight of what's now the most powerful operational rocket in the world. This image shows the moment the rocket blasted off the launchpad

This image shows the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket trailing smoke after lifting off from historic launch pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral

Elon Musk shared a graphic on Twitter on Tuesday to illustrate the flight path of Falcon Heavy after launch. The 70-metre- (230-foot) long rocket's central core was meant to detach from the main module and begin its own controlled descent back to Earth, landing on the firm's Of Course I Still Love You drone ship in the Pacific Ocean, but this failed to happen

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy megarocket is the firm's most ambitious launch yet. The megarocket can be seen sitting on Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of its demonstration mission

The launch followed months of delays and build-up to the historic flight, with Musk frequently posting updates across his social media profiles.

On January 5, the billionaire wrote on Instagram: 'Falcon Heavy now vertical on the former Apollo 11 moon rocket launchpad.

'At 2,500 tons of thrust, equal to 18 Boeing 747 aircraft at full throttle, it will be the most powerful rocket in the world by a factor of two. Excitement on launch day guaranteed, one way or another.

'Hold-down test fire next week. Launch end of the month.'

The 46-year-old South African, who co-founded PayPal with venture capitalist Peter Thiel, predicts Falcon Heavy's payload will stay in deep space for a while.

This image, taken on December 6, 2017, shows the red Tesla Roadster during preparations ahead of launch.

Tesla founder Elon Musk previously released an animation revealing how he would fire his car toward Mars aboard the world's most powerful rocket

The billionaire said the firm's Falcon Heavy spacecraft would carry his 2008 cherry red Tesla Roadster on a billion-year journey through space 'if it doesn't explode into tiny pieces'. Pictured is an artist's impression of the car strapped into the rocket's main module before launch yesterday

Once Falcon Heavy entered space, two of the 70-metre- (230-foot) long craft's booster rockets separated off and returned to Earth at Cape Canaveral in controlled landings (pictured)

A photo of its unusual cargo - Musk's cherry red 2008 Tesla Roadster - was first released last month.

The images showed an original Roadster perched on a large cone inside Falcon Heavy on what appeared to be a secure mount to keep it stationary.

The mission marks SpaceX's most ambitious project to date.

Musk founded SpaceX in 2002, with the aim of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonisation of Mars.

In a Washington, D.C., speech last July the Tesla founder said Falcon Heavy is one of the most difficult and technically complex projects SpaceX has ever undertaken.

'There's a lot of risk associated with Falcon Heavy,' he said during the 2017 International Space Station Research and Development Conference.

'Real good chance that the vehicle doesn't make it to orbit. I want to make sure to set expectations accordingly.'

Musk has spent the proceeding months building up hype for the historic launch with a series of social media posts.

Last month he posted an image to Twitter of people stoof next to a landed Falcon Heavy rocket to give an idea of the vehicle's scale.

Musk confirmed the rocket has a 'max thrust at lift-off is 5.1 million pounds or 2300 metric tons,' adding the first mission was run at 92 per cent capacity

He tweeted: 'Falcon Heavy launching from same @NASA pad as the Saturn V Apollo 11 moon rocket.

'It was 50% higher thrust with five F-1 engines at 7.5M lb-F.

'I love that rocket so much.'

He also confirmed the rocket will have a 'max thrust at lift-off is 5.1 million pounds or 2300 metric tons,' adding the first mission will run at 92 per cent capacity.

'Falcon Heavy to launch next month from Apollo 11 pad at the Cape.

'Will have double thrust of next largest rocket. Guaranteed to be exciting, one way or another,' Musk originally posted.