Making Space Fun Again!

A Tesla Roadster, driven by a mannequin named 'Starman',
hitches a ride aboard the Falcon Heavy test flight, blasting
music from David Bowie and bearing a message from
the late Douglas Adams on the instrument panel.

I am old enough to remember the excitement surrounding the Apollo lunar landings and one thing that was inescapable was the triumphant excitement. Originally, there were to have been ten lunar landings, beginning with Apollo 11 and concluding with Apollo 20, but we never got there. Instead, we stopped after Apollo 17. Sure, some of the hardware was recycled for the Skylab project—Remember Skylab? I bet a lot of people don't—and the last mission to carry the "Apollo" brand was a 1975 publicity stunt in which astronauts aboard the last Apollo capsule docked with a Soviet Soyuz capsule for a "Handshake in Space" with a couple of cosmonauts. But why did we quit going to the moon and launching space shuttles and other cool stuff? In short, because it wasn't fun anymore. Yeah, I know there are a bunch of more technical explanations for all that, but space exploration needs to have a fun factor if it is to continue.

Today, Elon Musk put the fun back into space in the form of a cherry red Tesla Roadster 'piloted' by a space suited mannequin named 'Starman' and blasting David Bowie's "Life on Mars" on a continuous loop from the radio, while displaying the words "Don't Panic!" in a nod to the late Douglas Adams, author of the Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy books, on the instrument panel's video screen. All of this served as the dummy payload aboard the successful test launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center's famed Launchpad 39A earlier today, 6 February 2018. The Falcon Heavy, with the Tesla Roadster and Starman aboard, is headed toward an orbit around Mars--not the sun--as some news outlets erroneously reported.

While some may dismiss it as a meaningless publicity stunt or at worst, a shameless plug for Musk's other company, Tesla—and who cares of Tesla uses it in their advertising—it's more than that. It made a positive and entertaining statement for a public that has become bored with space—bored because space has become numbingly routine. This was a hell of a lot more fun than some scientific experiments from Ms. Nelson's sixth grade class. I say kudos to Elon Musk and the rest of the SpaceX team for putting on a hell of a good show, turning a routine rocket launch into a memorable event. In fact, the only thing better, in my opinion, is if Starman's space suit were worn by the mortal remains of either David Bowie (1947-2016) or Douglas Adams (1952-2001). I wish both had been around to see the show they helped Mr. Musk create.

But seriously, this was a brilliant piece of marketing that might just help get people excited about getting back to space. And when—not if, but when—we get to Mars, let's hope Starman and the Tesla are waiting for us in orbit!