It’s been said about rocket launches that when you get to 0:00:00 on the clock there are a million things that can happen and only one of them is good.
Especially on a first test flight, we knew SpaceX was going to be cautious, and the weather is one of the things they can’t control. But they had a two-hour long window today and they waited out some high-level wind shear issues.
DAMN was it worth it!
This is the full stream of the launch (which occurs at the 22:00 mark), fairing separation (exposing Elon Musk’s Tesla roadster to space at 25:56), and the landing of the two side boosters (at the 30:00 mark).
If you think the video is spectacular…
That one in the lower right might be THE iconic picture of the year.
And this view from the beach:
The video of “Starman” (the mannequin in the space suit in the Tesla Roadster) kept going for over four and a half hours with the Earth getting a bit smaller with every view:
Congratulations, SpaceX!
Now, when do I get to go?
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 