Source: Adweek
Elon Musk pulled off a double marketing coup on Tuesday with the first successful test launch of his Falcon Heavy rocket, the flagship of his private space-flight company SpaceX, and the subsequent debut of its payload—a Tesla Roadster driven by a dummy nicknamed Starman—as the first car in space.
While the launch was clearly one of the most dramatic moments of livestreaming in recent memory, it’s the live YouTube feed of Musk’s own cherry-red Roadster circling the Earth that will perhaps generate the biggest publicity boost for Musk’s emerging electric-car company. With a famously nonexistent ad budget, Tesla just secured a place in auto marketing history.
The stunt is reminiscent of Red Bull’s Stratos mission, in which skydiver Felix Baumgartner jumped from a balloon capsule 24 miles and landed safely, all while being shown live around the world and surrounded by Red Bull branding.
By comparison, Tesla’s play isn’t quite as overtly branded, but it’s certainly more ambitious—requiring, of course, about $500 million in investment by SpaceX to ensure the successful development and launch of Falcon Heavy.
Musk has been relatively coy about the Roadster’s role in the test flight, tweeting a livestream link with the comment, “Apparently, there is a car in orbit around Earth.”
View from SpaceX Launch Control. Apparently, there is a car in orbit around Earth. pic.twitter.com/QljN2VnL1O
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 6. veljače 2018.
The car has a long trip ahead of it, moving into orbit around the sun and then heading far from Earth. The original plan was to go nearly 250 million miles from Earth and approach Mars, according to Space.com. However, a rocket carrying the car overshot, meaning it’ll pass Mars’ orbit and enter the asteroid belt.
Most of the social chatter around SpaceX’s successful launch and the Tesla Roadster’s epic journey has been positive, with many observers simply excited to see America returning to space in an ambitious way.
