Instead of using a standard test payload, the SpaceX CEO decided to send his personal Tesla Roadster into space. Inside the car was a mannequin named Starman dressed in a spacesuit.
Recently, a X user, who goes by the name ‘DogeDesigner’, remembered this famous mission and said, “Elon Musk sending a Tesla into space remains one of the most iconic and entertaining moments in SpaceX history.”
The post caught Musk’s attention in no time.
Quote-tweeting the video, he declared, “The car that used to be in my garage is currently in an Earth-Mars elliptical orbit and will be there for at least 10 million years.”
The car that used to be in my garage is currently in an Earth-Mars elliptical orbit and will be there for at least 10 million years https://t.co/SlBthuU5hp
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 6, 2026
When a user asked Grok, “Explain how did that happen. Everything in detail,” it replied, “The Tesla Roadster with Starman was the test payload on SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy launch, Feb 6, 2018, from Kennedy LC-39A. The upper stage fired to exceed Earth’s escape velocity, injecting it into a heliocentric elliptical orbit (perihelion ~0.986 AU near Earth, aphelion ~1.66 AU past Mars). It loops the Sun every ~557 days in a stable path that crosses Earth-Mars distances. No close planetary encounters for millions of years—hence it stays out there indefinitely. Starman still vibes to Bowie.”
According to Whereisroadster.com, a website created by Ben Pearson to track the red car on its journey through space, it has been eight years, four months and one day since the car was launched into space. The car is currently about 191.7 million kilometres away from Earth and is slowly moving closer to our planet.
At the same time, it is about 280.9 million kilometres from Mars and moving farther away from it. The Roadster is also around 248.3 million kilometres from the Sun.
Since its launch in February 2018, the car has completed more than five trips around the Sun and has travelled over 6.6 billion kilometres through space.
