Driving a floating car in space is the thing of science fiction movies, but billionaire Elon Musk made it a reality when he launched one of his Tesla Roadsters into space, piloted by one lucky mannequin in a space suit!
The car, launched at Cape Canaveral by Musk’s other venture, SpaceX, left Earth’s atmosphere last year with the hopes of it veering close to Mars during its galactic journey.
The vehicle can be tracked via the website “Where Is Roadster?”, which now shows the red sports car as having completed its first solar orbit, after 18 months of cruising through space.
Musk described the launch of the motorcar as being "probably the most exciting thing I have seen literally ever".
Once again, stainless steel plays its part in this somewhat unorthodox space travel, as the material, amongst other things, is used to form the connectors between the 6,831 lithium-ion batteries powering the vehicle.
This is by no means SpaceX’s last venture into orbit, as it is currently developing a stainless steel Starship planned for a direct trip to Mars.
If Elon Musk ever manages to set up camp on Mars no doubt he’ll want a local pub there (it’ll be essential right?), and if that’s the case one of our Stainless Steel Bar Sinks would be a perfect addition!
Image: Author SpaceX. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication