SpaceX Tesla Passes Mars

On Wednesday (Feb. 7), SpaceX executed the monumental project of launching a car into space, successfully drawing crowds not witnessed since NASA’s final space shuttle flight seven years earlier. Now the car has passed Mars’ orbit and is headed toward the Asteroid Belt.

Elon Musk, SpaceX and Tesla CEO, took to Twitter with the announcement that the Tesla Roadster strapped inside the rocket successfully cleared the fourth planet from the sun and is entering the asteroid field separating Mars and Jupiter.

Inside the car, "Starman" – a human mannequin in a space suit - grips the wheel as if driving while David Bowie’s Life on Mars plays.

Musk says that the goal is to see how far the car can travel. Scientists project it will survive approximately one year.