7 Feb 2018

Heaviest rocket successfully launched

From Afternoons, 1:27 pm on 7 February 2018

Elon Musk's company, SpaceX successfully launched its largest rocket yet, the Falcon Heavy.

The payload was a red Tesla Roadste, playing David Bowie's Space Oddity, and the plan is for the cargo to  enter into an elliptical orbit that will eventually take it past Mars.

The launch was assisted by AUT's radio telescopes at Warkworth. Professor Sergei Gulyaev, the director of AUT's Institute for Radio Astronomy & Space Research was there, and very excited to be a part of history.

SpaceX@SpaceX

Liftoff!

Get the RNZ app

for easy access to all your favourite programmes

Subscribe to Afternoons

Podcast (MP3) Oggcast (Vorbis)