I'm wondering: Is he straddling the center console? Or are there two Starmen in that photo?

I wondered the same thing, but a look at the shoe makes it pretty clear that the "right" leg in the photo is actually someone's left leg.

 

Anybody know if Starman's Tesla is still connected to anything, or just free floating? I guess I was hoping there was more of a point to it or some scientific aspect to the mission. Nothing wrong with it the way it is, but surely someone else might have paid to be in the back seat. Some cameras, sensors, something.

 

From everything I've seen, it is still connected to the upper stage. Batteries ran out about 6 hours after TMI, no scientific (or other) data coming down. The roadster and Starman were just a dummy load in place of a block of concrete.

 

From everything I've seen, it is still connected to the upper stage. Batteries ran out about 6 hours after TMI, no scientific (or other) data coming down. The roadster and Starman were just a dummy load in place of a block of concrete.

Seems like you could have put some kids' science projects in the back but I guess it makes sense that Musk didn't want to dilute the publicity stunt, or want the optics of it being blown up if it failed.

 

The random walk of cars and their collision probabilities with planets

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1802.04718.pdf

In a highly publicized event on February 6, 2018, SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon Heavy carrying a Tesla Roadster, pushing the car and the upper stage out of Earth’s gravitational grip and into orbit around the Sun. The Tesla is now drifting on a Mars-crossing orbit and it is not expected to make any further course corrections. The roadster was used as a mass simulator and had no scientific instruments on board other than three cameras which transmitted live video back to Earth for several hours after the launch.

 

Turns out there is a mission on board with Starman. Not what I was thinking of but still cool.

If the link doesn't take you to the right point, back it up to about 12:50.

 

 

This video show the failed return and near miss of the drone ship at 1:10

 

TESS Drone ship First Stage landing.

 

Still a thrill.

F9 lanuch.

 

Still a thrill.

F9 lanuch.

See 52:00. Mission Control looks like a kindergarten with all the kids...

 

See 52:00. Mission Control looks like a kindergarten with all the kids...

Love the energy!

http://spacenews.com/musk-details-block-5-improvements-to-falcon-9/

By comparison, the Block 5 Falcon 9 is around twice as powerful as the Falcon 9 that first launched a demonstration resupply mission for NASA in 2010. The Merlin engines on that first version had 95,000 pounds of thrust for each first-stage engine and 92,500 pounds of thrust for the second-stage engine.

The first stage of Block 5 rockets are designed to be far more reusable than previous versions which so far have only flown twice before retirement.

“In principle, we could refly Block 4 probably upwards of 10 times, but with a fair amount of work between each flight,” Musk said. “The key to Block 5 is that it’s designed to do 10 or more flights with no refurbishment between each flight. The only thing that needs to change is to reload propellant and fly again.”

 

Poor Ariane.
https://arstechnica.com/science/201...ed-with-spacex-for-driving-down-launch-costs/

With this background in mind, the chief executive of Ariane Group, Alain Charmeau, gave an interview to the German publication Der Spiegel. The interview was published in German, but a credible translation can be found here. During the interview, Charmeau expressed frustration with SpaceX and attributed its success to subsidized launches for the US government.
...
This seems a moment of real irony. Whereas earlier in the interview Charmeau accuses the US government of subsidizing SpaceX, a few minutes later he says the Ariane Group can't make a reusable rocket because it would be too efficient. For Europe, a difficult decision now looms. It can either keep subsidizing its own launch business in order to maintain an independent capability, or it can give in to Elon Musk and SpaceX, and Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin. Charmeau seems to have a clear view of where he thinks the continent should go.

 

Poor Ariane.
https://arstechnica.com/science/201...ed-with-spacex-for-driving-down-launch-costs/

 

https://www.geekwire.com/2018/space...e-launch-contract-marking-first-falcon-heavy/

The U.S. Air Force has awarded a $130 million firm-fixed-price contract to SpaceX for the launch of its classified AFSPC-52 satellite on a Falcon Heavy rocket.

It’s the first national security contract won for SpaceX’s heavy-lift rocket, which had its first test flight in February. AFSPC-52 is due to lift off in 2020 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

 

That rocket fought till the bitter end.

 

 

Now that was a splashdown!If they can harden their hardware to withstand salt water I wonder if parachutes would help?

 

 

https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/15/18311945/spacex-falcon-heavy-center-core-drone-ship-rough-ocean

SpaceX successfully landed the center core of its Falcon Heavy rocket on a drone ship last week, but the vehicle accidentally fell into the ocean while in transit to the Florida coast. The company blamed the loss on choppy seas.