SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch: Timelapse video shows 'Starman' floating into orbit after entering space

The dummy could be floating in space for a billion years

Stunning timelapse footage shows the journey of Elon Musk's "Starman" floating in space.

The eerie, beautiful video depicts the journey of the dummy, sat in Mr Musk's cherry red Tesla, as it flies out into deep space. From there, it is hoped it will carry on floating for as long as a billion years, trapped in long, looping orbits between Mars and the Earth.

The mannequin, wearing the same SpaceX suit that its astronauts will use to head into space, is now looking back on our own planet in images that recall the first photos of Earth from space.

Just minutes before, three boosters and 27 engines roared into life. Flames spewed out of the bottom of the huge rocket – the most powerful on Earth, and the biggest since Saturn V was revealed in the 60s – and then the various parts flew off from Kennedy Space Station and away from the Earth.

Thousands of members of the public crowded onto the surrounding beaches and roads to watch the rocket take off. Many more watched from within SpaceX, where employees shouted and cheered as it became clear the Tesla and its model driver were at the top of a successful mission.

Mr Musk all but admitted that using the dummy and his own car was something of a publicity stunt. But he said it was important to get publicity for such a significant moment.

"It's kind of silly and fun, but I think that silly and fun things are important," said the SpaceX chief who also runs Tesla and is keen to colonize Mars. "The imagery of it is something that's going to get people excited around the world."

Two of the boosters— both recycled from previous launches — returned minutes after liftoff for on-the-mark touchdowns at Cape Canaveral. Sonic booms rumbled across the region with the vertical landings.

Musk later revealed the third booster, brand new, slammed into the Atlantic at 300 mph and missed the floating landing platform, scattering shrapnel all over the deck and knocking out two engines.

He was unfazed by the lost booster and said watching the other two land upright probably was the most exciting thing he's ever seen.

Before liftoff, "I had this image of just a giant explosion on the pad, a wheel bouncing down the road, the Tesla logo landing somewhere," he said. "But fortunately, that's not what happened."

Musk's rocketing Roadster is shooting for a solar orbit that will reach all the way to Mars.

Ballast for a rocket debut is usually concrete — "so boring," Musk said in a post-launch news conference.

The Roadster was anything but. Cameras mounted on the car fed stunning video of "Starman" tooling around Earth, looking something like a NASCAR racer out for a Sunday drive, with its right hand on the wheel and the left arm resting on the car's door.

A sign on the dashboard read: "Don't panic!" Bowie's "Life on Mars?" played in the background at one point. A Hot Wheels roadster was also on the dash with a tiny spaceman on board.

The Falcon Heavy is a combination of three Falcon 9s, the rocket that the company uses to ship supplies to the International Space Station and lift satellites. SpaceX is reusing first-stage boosters to save on launch costs. Most other rocket makers discard their spent boosters in the ocean.

Unlike most rockets out there, the Falcon Heavy receives no government funding. The hulking rocket is intended for massive satellites, like those used by the U.S. military and communication companies. Even before the successful test flight, customers were signed up.

"It was awesome like a science fiction movie coming to reality," said former NASA deputy administrator Dava Newman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Apollo professor of astronautics. "They nailed it. Good for them."

Additional reporting by agencies