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THE natural next step for a company hoping to one day colonise Mars, the launch of the Falcon Heavy has made history.

But what about its forerunner Falcon 9, and what else do you know about the space duo? And did the Tesla car make it to Mars?

 The Falcon Heavy successfully launched on February 6, 2018.
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The Falcon Heavy successfully launched on February 6, 2018.Credit: Reuters

What is Falcon Heavy?

The Falcon Heavy is SpaceX's biggest rocket yet, equivalent to 18 Boeing 747 aircraft at full throttle.

The billionaire's space company claims that the rocket is the "most powerful rocket in the world by a factor of two."

The firm's CEO Elon Musk has admitted that the development of the rocket has been "way harder" than he imagined but there was "guaranteed excitement" for the launch.

When was the Falcon Heavy launch and why was it delayed?

SpaceX launched Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on February 6, 2018, at around 3:45 pm ET (8:45 pm UK time) after being delayed.

Ultimately it was delayed by two hours because of the weather but luckily they proceeded with the launch.

The demonstration flight to the Mars orbit is set to pave the way for a human trip to the planet in years to come.

 The Falcon Heavy soared into the skies at incredible speeds
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The Falcon Heavy soared into the skies at incredible speedsCredit: Reuters

Where is the rocket and what's happened to the Tesla car?

Musk attached a cherry red Tesla Roadster with the message "Don't panic!" emblazoned on the dashboard to Falcon 9.

After surviving a five hour journey through the Van Allen Belt - an area of high radiation - the car is embarked on a journey through space that could last a billion years and take it as far as 250 million miles from Earth - the same as a trip around the equator 10,000 times.

Musk posted a live video showing the "Starman" mannequin on board appearing to cruise through space back in February.

He tweeted that the rocket's upper stage had made a successful final burn, sending the car and the mannequin out of Earth's orbit, into an orbit around the Sun that brings it close to Mars.

Eight months since it launched, the car has now made it past Mars' orbit according to a tweet from SpaceX on November 2.

It is calculated that the electric car is now 179 million miles away from Earth and is moving at a speed of 35,000 mph.

The car is set to come back into its 557-day orbit around the sun.

The central booster, unfortunately, missed its landing and crashed into the ocean.

It lacked enough ignition fluid to light the engines and land on the platform.

Elon Musk has said that the fix for this problem is "obvious."

What is SpaceX Falcon 9?

The rocket was designed and manufactured to transport satellites and the Dragon spacecraft into orbit - a free-flying vehicle designed to deliver cargo and people to destinations.

The SpaceX is the first rocket to be completely developed in the 21st century and has a two-stage separation.

Falcon 9 delivered the Dragon into the correct orbit in 2012 so that it could rendezvous with the International Space Station.

The achievement made SpaceX the first every commercial company to visit the ISS.

The Falcon 9 has different versions which are the Falcon 9 v1.1, now retired, and the current Falcon 9 Full Thrust.

What is the SpaceX Falcon 9 used for?

Since making it to the International Space Station in 2012, the rocket has made multiple flights back to deliver and return cargo for NASA.

It has been designed to transport paying customers into space and SpaceX are working alongside NASA to make that happen.

On the very tip of the SpaceX is the Dragon spacecraft.

It was also announced in February 2017 that two private citizens had approached Space X, paying a "significant deposit" to do a Moon mission.

The pair will undergo training before the trip.

How many SpaceX Falcon 9s have been made?

In December 2010 SpaceX were making one Falcon 9 every three months, and were planning to double that rate to one every six weeks.

As of November 2013 the company has been producing roughly one rocket each month.

In 2017 there were 18 Falcon 9 launches.

What is Elon Musk's latest announcement for SpaceX?

Elon has announced SpaceX plans to fly two people on a tourist mission around the moon – by as early as next year.

The billionaire tech entrepreneur wouldn’t name the two private individuals, who he said approached his firm and will pay for the flight themselves.

Musk said the tourist mission would last around a week, circling the moon and heading out deeper into space before journeying back to Earth.

He also has pledged to send humans to Mars by 2024 in bold plan to make humanity an ‘interplanetary species’.

Some technical points

The SpaceX Falcon 9 is 229.6ft (7om) high and weighs 549,054kg.

It has nine first-stage Merlin engines clustered together and can sustain up to two engine shutdowns during flight.

It has "first stage" engines which SpaceX claim means it can "safely complete its mission even in the event of an engine shutdown".

Each launch costs the company $62m.

Space X founder Elon Musk has been trying to launch reusable rockets to further space travel
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Space X founder Elon Musk has been trying to launch reusable rockets to further space travelCredit: Getty Images

What are the SpaceX Falcon 9's most notable launches?

2010: The Falcon 9 maiden launched took place on June 4, 2010 and was a success.

The rocket rolled in space and a halo from the venting of its propellant could be seen from Eastern Australia.

In December 2010 a second launch took place to place the Dragon spacecraft into orbit.

The launch was a success and the Dragon was recovered off the coast of Mexico.

2012: SpaceX launched their first operational cargo resupply mission to the Internal Space Station in 2012.

The Dragon capsule was unloaded by ISS crew who then reloaded it with cargo for its return to Earth.

2016: This year marked SpaceX's first landings onto drone ships on Earth.

In April launched their eighth commercial mission to the International Space Station and the craft landed on a drone ship on its return to earth.

A month later on May 6 SpaceX launched their JCSAT-14 mission - a geostationary communications satellite operating over Asia.

Eight minutes and forty seconds into the flight it re-entered Earth's atmosphere at the twice the speed of the first success.

The stage successfully landed on a drone ship off the coast of Florida.

2017: SpaceX successfully completed two Falcon 9 landings in one weekend - on June 24 and 25.

The latter voyage marked the rocket's lucky 13th landing, and its eighth at sea.

Both launches were a success, despite Elon Musk's warnings of extreme weather conditions just prior to take-off on the latter launch.

Who are SpaceX?

SpaceX's full name is the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation.

They are a US firm and were founded in 2002 by Elon Musk who also launched PayPal and Tesla Motors.

The goal of the company is to reduce space transportation costs and enable the colonisation of Mars.

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