5 Years Ago, SpaceX Launched Its Silliest Payload Yet — And It's Still in Orbit

For the first test flight of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on February 6, 2018, SpaceX — and Tesla — CEO Elon Musk decided to launch the “silliest” test payload imaginable: his own car. The midnight cherry-hued Tesla roadster reached around 26,000 miles per hour, sufficient speed to escape Earth’s gravity and outpace any ground speed record imaginable.