A cherry red Tesla Roadster owned by Elon Musk is set to be fired into space on SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket. The private space company, headed by Tesla CEO Musk, hopes to launch what it calls "the most powerful operational rocket" from Florida's Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday. On the social media site Instagram, Musk posted an image of his car fixed to a part of the rocket with a dummy figure at the wheel.

It has been reported that the car will be playing the song "Starman" by David Bowie when it's released into zero gravity. The Tesla Roadster is to be sent on an elliptical orbit around the Sun and will at one stage pass closely by Mars. Should the launch succeed, Falcon Heavy will be the biggest and most powerful rocket to be launched into space since Nasa's giant Saturn V in 1973. SpaceX has described it on its own website as the most powerful rocket around today.

SpaceX Falcon Heavy sat on a launch pad. SpaceX