<P> There is a copy of Douglas Adams' 1979 novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in the glovebox, along with references to the book in the form of a towel and a sign on the dashboard that reads "Don't Panic!". A Hot Wheels miniature Roadster with a miniature Starman is mounted on the dashboard . A plaque bearing the names of the employees who worked on the project is underneath the car, and a message on the vehicle's circuit board reads "Made on Earth by humans". A copy of Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy on a 5D optical data storage disc was included--the disk holds 360 terabytes but the books only comprised 3 megabytes . It was created by the Arch Mission Foundation and added at the last minute after Musk was informed that the disk, previously created as a proof of concept and never intended to be launched into space, was available--Musk was a fan of the trilogy . </P> <P> The Roadster is attached to a Merlin 1D Vacuum second stage with extended nozzle by a payload attachment fitting . </P> <P> A license for the launch was issued by the US Office of Commercial Space Transportation on February 2, 2018 . The rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center at 15: 45 EST (20: 45 UTC) on February 6, 2018, and was initially placed in Earth parking orbit while remaining attached to the Falcon Heavy second stage . After a longer - than - usual six - hour coast phase through the Van Allen radiation belts, thereby demonstrating a new capability requested by the U.S. Air Force for direct geostationary orbit (GEO) insertion of heavy intelligence satellites, the second stage reignited for the Earth - escape trajectory . </P> <P> Like all its previous launches, SpaceX live streamed a video feed . It started at the rocket's launch, and once in space showed the Roadster at different angles from cameras mounted inside and outside the car . </P>

When was the tesla roadster launched into space