When SpaceX first tested its powerful Falcon Heavy rocket booster in early 2018, Elon Musk decided to use his own Tesla Roadster as a payload. No one knew if the rocket would successfully lift off, or blow up, so using Musk’s first-generation electric car was probably more promotional theater than anything else. Also onboard the flight — which is now in elliptical orbit around the Sun — was a secret stash designed to last millions of years: A one-inch (2.54-cm) diameter quartz crystal disk created by the Arch Mission Foundation, containing Isaac Asimov’s iconic Foundation series of books. Outer space’s first permanent library was Arch’s way of creating a permanent archive of human knowledge.
Ground Control to Major Tom:
Published in the early 1950s, Asimov’s popular sci-fi trilogy — Foundation, Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation — depicts a futuristic world seen through the eyes of “psychohistorian” Hari Seldon.
In the planning stages, SpaceX’s Musk admitted the launch was risky, and vowed to send up “the silliest thing we can imagine.” A Twitter follower suggested his midnight cherry-colored Tesla, and the idea clicked.
In the driver’s seat is a full-size mannequin dubbed “Starman,” wearing a SpaceX pressure suit. The car’s sound system was set to play the David Bowie song “Space Oddity” on a continuous loop.