Falcon 9 is a family of two-stage medium-lift launch vehicles in orbit, so named due to the use of nine first-stage engines, designed and manufactured by SpaceX. Variants include the retired Falcon 9 v1.0 and Falcon 9 v1.1, as well as the current Falcon 9 Full Thrust, both partially reusable launch systems powered by rocket engines using liquid oxygen (LOX) and rocket kerosene (RP - 1) propellants. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The Tesla Roadster, launched Tuesday on the first test flight of SpaceX's powerful Falcon Heavy rocket, is heading further into space than expected. SpaceX did its part to boost America's rocketry renaissance on Tuesday, successfully launching its massive Falcon Heavy rocket on its maiden voyage as millions of people watched in person and via livestream. The three-booster rocket, more powerful than any rocket since the Saturn V that took astronauts to the Moon in the 1960s and 1970s: lifted off at 3:45 pm ET from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. As the second stage moved away from the planet, two of the Falcon Heavy's spent solid rocket boosters fell back to Earth and landed upright, as expected. The Falcon Heavy could one day be used to ferry colonists to Mars so that humans can become what SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and others have called a "multiplanetary species," capable of surviving if some natural or climate-induced disaster strikes. man would make the Earth uninhabitable. Tuesday's flight, however, was a cherry-red prototype of a Roadster, an electric vehicle made by Musk's other company, Tesla. In the car's driver's seat, a mannequin nicknamed "Starman" wore a prototype spacesuit designed to be used by future astronauts on missions to Mars. the rocket and its payload are now embarked on what Musk called a six-hour “grand tour” of Earth's Van Allen belts, where it will be bombarded with intense radiation from captured charged particles. from the magnetic field of our planet. If the Falcon Heavy's second stage survives the journey, a final burn will propel the Tesla at 24,000 miles per hour into an elliptical orbit around the sun that extends beyond Mars. This is the first time a private company has operated. he launched something into the depths of space. Along with the Falcon Heavy, SpaceX is developing a crew-carrying version of its Dragon capsule, which along with Space's smaller Falcon 9 rocket has been used to deliver cargo to the ISS since 2012. Last year, Musk said that the Falcon Heavy would be used to send two space tourists in a Dragon capsule on a wild journey around the moon. But Musk said on Monday that the rocket will be used exclusively for cargo transportation for the foreseeable future. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get Custom Essay SpaceX, which is based in Hawthorne and whose full name is Space Exploration Technologies Corp., tried to land the core on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean, but the booster was lost when it hit the water at approximately 300 mph and approximately 328 feet from the platform, taking out two of the platform's thrusters and scattering debris across the deck. As expected, the second stage engine shut down and then restarted twice before undertaking an "experimental long coast" into deep space – including through the high-radiation Van Allen belts surrounding Earth – for about six hours..