All language subtitles for MARS 2x00 - Inside SpaceX (English)

We now go to a historic moment

at the Kennedy Space Center
in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Elon Musk, the billionaire
founder of SpaceX and Tesla,

is set to launch the biggest
rocket in the world today.

You are looking at a
live view of the Falcon Heavy,

the world's most powerful operational
rocket by a factor of two,

and today is the day that we have
come to demonstrate that power

break through Earth's gravitational pull

and head for a solar orbit,

including Mars.

This reported $90 million mission,

paid for by billionaire SpaceX founder.

This is a point in history
that we don't come to often.

We're in this amazing transition point

that we have not been in
since the moon landings.

I'm going to step off the LEM now.

That's one small step for man,
one giant leap for mankind.

With companies like SpaceX,

we have alignment of so many capabilities

and opportunities and changes happening

that are all pushing in one direction,

which is towards Mars.

We had plans to land
the first humans on Mars in 1981

and have a permanent base on
Mars by the late 1980s.

And if anybody had told me when I was 17

watching that moon landing
that I would be 64 and

we wouldn't be on Mars, I would
have thought they were crazy.

Apollo was, you
know, nearly 50 years ago.

That's insane, that we went to
the moon with 1960's technology

and haven't gone back since then

The question is,
why did we not keep going?

Going to Mars, it's really expensive.

It's such a massive human undertaking.

We need commercial space companies

that I think are going
to help bring the cost

of space down, to open the frontier
irreversibly for everybody.

Please join me in welcoming Elon Musk.

Thank you.

What I really want to
try to achieve here is

to make Mars seem possible,

make it seem as though it's something

that we can do in our lifetimes
and that you can go.

That's what we want.

We need to go to Mars, because
it protects us from extinction.

There's all sorts of things
that could happen on Earth

that'd kill all humans on the planet.

But once humans are on
two different planets,

the odds of extinction
drop to nearly zero.

We're currently at T-minus 17 minutes,

40 seconds and counting down.

All systems are go for launch
with the SpaceX test flight

of the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle.

This window of opportunity is
open for life to go beyond Earth,

but who knows how long
that window will be open.

Guys, the tanks are fully loaded.

- How do you feel?
- Good, I hope.

As long as they don't blow up.

That's what the guy from SpaceX said.

As long as they don't
blow up, we're good to go.

This kind of thing can barely be done

by extremely advanced governments.

T minus 30 seconds.

And here comes a guy
with 350 million bucks that says,

I'm gonna start a rocket company
and I'm gonna get us to Mars.

SpaceX Falcon Heavy, go for launch.

Humans cannot survive
on Earth indefinitely.

Falcon Heavy is on internal power.

EFTS is ready for launch.

So, think of everything that
we've achieved as a civilization.

Falcon Heavy is in start-up.

Think of everything that
we've achieved as a culture.

T minus 15, standby for terminal count.

Guys, here it goes.

We will go extinct if we do
not become a space-faring species.

Ten, nine. Eight, seven, six.

Survival for humanity
in the long run depends on it.

- Five, four, three.
- Two, one, zero.

Synced & corrected by -robtor-
www.addic7ed.com

This is hallowed ground.

It's called Launchpad
39A and it's the place that

the first humans left Earth

and went to another heavenly body.

So, this is, I think, probably,

I think it's the greatest
launch site on Earth.

Buzz Aldrin, Mike
Collins, and Neil Armstrong

get into the transfer van

to pad 39A.

Pad 39A was used
for the Apollo 11 mission.

And then, with the Space Shuttle.

So, it's a place with incredible
historical significance.

Now, NASA has given Launchpad
39A to SpaceX to use.

All right, guys, we're
going to go up the elevator.

Dad,

- what is this building for?
- This is the launch tower.

So, this is where the
astronauts would go up.

And then there would be a big arm

that would swing over to the
spacecraft and they'd walk down

the gangway, climb in the
spacecraft, go to space.

And this isn't floors, this is feet.

Pretty cool.

From the first explorers
who ventured off our planet,

to those who have risked
their lives in pursuit

of furthering our
understanding of the universe,

the astronauts and engineers
behind the US space program

have spent decades advancing
space technology.

But building rockets was expensive.

By the early 2000s the US
space program was struggling,

and a mission to Mars
was hard to imagine.

The Space Shuttle spreads
its wings one final time

for the start of this sentimental

journey into history.

It was then that a young entrepreneur

had a revolutionary idea.

With SpaceX, what we're trying
to do is achieve a huge advancement

in rocket technology.

If you look at rocket technology,
it actually got worse over time.

In 1969, we were able to go to the moon,

and then with the Space Shuttle

we were only able to go
to lower earth orbit.

And then when the Space
Shuttle went away,

and then we weren't able to go
to orbit from the United States.

See, like, that's a negative trend line.

It's not like you can
extrapolate that trend line

into the future and it gets good.

It's a trend line to zero.

So, if it's not gonna
come from the government,

then it's gotta come
from a private company.

So Falcon Heavy ended up

being a much more complex
program than we thought...

Well, we're super excited
obviously at SpaceX to

announce, uh, the, some of the details
around the Falcon Heavy rocket,

which is our, our launch
rocket development,

really large rocket development.

Falcon Heavy is the
most powerful operational

rocket in the world.

In addition to the center core,

it's powered by two
Falcon 9 rocket boosters

that have each flown and
landed once before.

They'll now be reused to launch Heavy.

Falcon Heavy is really a
revolution in space technology.

The long-term goal of SpaceX is to
develop the technology necessary to

establish a self-sustaining city on Mars.

One of the most exciting
parts of working at SpaceX

is missions like Falcon Heavy.

These bold missions, these bold
visions for doing things better,

but also, doing things
on a much grander scale.

All right guys, let's go ahead

and get this pre-test going
for dance floor removal.

It's gonna be the first time that we
do it, so here's the number one rule:

we're gonna take our time and be safe.

And so I want everyone to walk
through, make sure the area's clean.

We're not gonna have access to those
areas once the dance floor is out,

so let's do a FOD sweep and
then, we can get into it.

There are things in your
life that you will remember,

you know, the birth of your kids,

and then, when we landed
a rocket here, um,

and this one will be
another one, for sure.

The fact that we built and are launching

the largest vehicle since Saturn 5,

the rocket that took us to the moon,

folks will look back on Heavy
as a stepping stone to Mars.

Lift off, we have a lift off.

Wernher Von Braun,
who built the Saturn 5,

overbuilt entirely the rocket
to go to the moon.

Saturn 5 is the largest, longest,

and heaviest machine
ever built by humans.

It's absolute overkill
for going to the moon.

And the reason is Von Braun
didn't want to go to the moon.

He wanted to go to Mars.

Von Braun, just like Elon Musk,

was intensely aware that
humans, in order to survive,

have to become a space-faring species.

Mars is the only
possibility in our solar system

for being multi-planetary

with the technology that
we're aware of right now.

Main engines start, zero,

and lift off of the
Atlas 5 with Curiosity.

Breaking news this morning,

the NASA Mars rover Curiosity
touched down this morning,

right there on the Red Planet.

Touchdown confirmed, we're safe on Mars.

Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity,

all of these rovers
have started to unveil,

and show us that there is water,
that the Martian soil has nutrients.

Mars is the closest planetary object

that has all the conditions and resources

needed to support life and therefore
technological civilization.

We just have to get there.

_

Before we do the flight, we
do what's called a static fire.

So we will load up the propellants
and start the engines,

but hold the rocket down to see

if there's anything that
seems suspicious to us.

The last interest item is weather.

The weather is pretty favorable today.

We're looking at winds
above 25 miles per hour.

And assuming that all the manual checks

and the automatic checks come back okay,

then the rocket will
be released for launch.

For Falcon Heavy we have to
light 27 engines simultaneously,

so there's a lot that could go wrong.

So, five hertz is where we really break.

- _
- Yeah.

The static fire lets you
make sure the rocket's healthy,

the pad is ready to go.

That's also the time when you can find
some really significant surprises.

- Some are good, some aren't so good.
- AGS, this is the ER.

We've been having some
conversations with automation.

It seems like five hertz is a hard limit

in terms of operation
of that auto engine.

If you see this thing coming down
toward six and a half or six hertz,

I think you should be
calling our attention to it.

We're pretty gun-shy about launching.

If we see anything that seems
questionable, we don't launch.

Briefing for instructions for an abort.

In the need for an urgent abort,
operators shall call, "Hold, hold, hold"

on the primary countdown net.

That results in a lot of postponements.

It is full load then
lift cylinders are attracting.

Question: Does it, do you guys
want to make that call right now?

Secure for T-zero-eighty-eight
point three degrees.

Yes, close outs are started.

ID on countdown, go for static fire.

Reminder: site booster engine
startup is at T-minus 7 seconds.

Ten, nine, eight, seven,
six, five, four, three, two, one.

Full duration, static fire.

The Falcon Heavy static
fire was a pretty big deal

because even though
there was a successful

static fire attempt, honestly,
it is a brand-new vehicle.

Falcon Heavy is The
culmination of years of innovation

in rocket technology,

taking the company one
step closer to Mars.

It's going to be
exceptionally difficult to go to Mars.

You're talking about, you know,

new technologies in virtually
every possible system.

And this is where, you know,

science and science-fiction sort
of collide in a way that is, um,

helpful. You learn a lot more,

but it also reminds you of just
how much there is at stake.

Three, two, one.

There is no such thing
as a perfect record in rocketry.

On average, 20 percent of all attempts
to get off the face of the Earth

with a rocket fail.

And there's a
strained relationship between

failure, risk, and innovation,

which is: you can take risks, you
can try something very innovative,

but you're more likely to fail.

This is why different types of
rocket companies and NASA itself

tend to go with older technologies.

I first met Elon back in 2000.

And I was actually trying to
talk him out of doing SpaceX.

I said, look at all of these dead
bodies along the way, you know,

all of these companies
that have attempted to go.

I mean, come on, what are the
odds you're going to succeed.

But he's shown the world it's doable.

Falcon Heavy has been
seven years in the making,

but it all started with SpaceX's
first model, the Falcon 1.

This was their first attempt
to create a reliable,

low-cost rocket made up of two stages

and designed to low-Earth orbit.

Rockets, they really don't want to work.

They like to blow up a lot.

Three, two, one, zero, plus
one, plus two, plus three, plus four.

At the beginning of SpaceX,
I had originally thought, "Okay,

I've got enough money
for three attempts."

- Sequence initiated.
- Three, two, one.

And, uh.

And we, unfortunately, we
did have three failures.

Uh, yeah, um, well, failure
sucks. It's really terrible.

There's a thousand ways
that a rocket could fail,

and one way that it could succeed.

Um, and, uh, particularly,
you know, in the beginning,

they tend to fail more than succeed.

But we managed to, to scrape together
enough to have a fourth attempt.

Three, two, one. Zero.
We're at stage one.

We have liftoff indication.
We have liftoff.

SpaceX Falcon 1 launch pad,
Falcon has cleared the tower.

Shutdown. Congratulations. My brother.

Thankfully, that fourth attempt worked.

This is just the first step of many.

And this really opens a way for us to
get Falcon 9 going; get, you know,

manned space flight and
ultimately getting to Mars.

I mean, there's just so many cool things
that are, that are there in the future.

I think that this is definitely, the
future of SpaceX is really great.

I mean, this is.

When Elon Musk decided,

I'm gonna go off and build
my own rocket company,

everyone thought he was crazy.
Everyone laughed at him.

No one has ever really
contemplated this in a serious way.

In the beginning, we
thought, this is so crazy.

What are we doing trying to come
up with something like this?

And then, over time, we're like
yeah, it can definitely be done.

And now we're just kind of
arguing over the details.

We can explore the universe.
We can put a colony on Mars.

People can be interplanetary

and it's just an engineering
problem like any other.

And it just takes a group
of people who care a lot

and are happy to work really hard
to make that happen.

So, the long-term goal is

how fast can we establish a
self-sustaining city on Mars?

Do we focus on just
trying to get the ship there

and then maybe some
people some other time?

I think we'd send a ship,
make sure it can land okay.

Assuming that lands okay and
it seems to be working,

on the next Mars mission we would send

people and additional equipment.

SpaceX is like no other rocket company.

They're in an unglamorous building
in the middle of nowhere,

in kind of an industrial zone.

But when you walk into the doors

and all of a sudden you see
they're making these pristine,

gorgeous rockets, it feels like you've
walked into a factory on another planet.

After Falcon 1,

SpaceX set its sights on the next
phase in their rocket evolution,

the Falcon 9.

The design called for a booster which
contained nine Merlin engines,

and increased the amount it could
lift by more than thirty times.

But the key component of Te
Falcon 9 design was reusability.

SpaceX Falcon 9 and
Dragon are go for launch.

Elon Musk has said the key to get to Mars

is the reusability of rockets.

LZ, ID. Go for launch.

That's an extremely complicated concept.

He wants to be able to
fire a rocket into orbit,

launch a payload into space.

And then fire retrorockets
and bring that rocket down

to land vertically and reuse it.

If he cannot make rockets truly reusable,

then he cannot launch a
new civilization on Mars.

So SpaceX has an incredible
camera focused on it,

and an incredible amount of attention.

Because it's the only
company in the world

that is actually trying
to do what it's trying to do,

which is develop the
technology to get humans to Mars.

Civilization on Earth is
actually very vulnerable.

Either we're going to
become a multi-planet species,

a space-faring civilization,

or we're going to be stuck on one planet

until some eventual extinction event.

Lots of rockets fail all the time.

The only time anybody ever notices
is when a SpaceX rocket fails.

And it was June 28th, 2015.

Actually, my birthday. Uh.

Normally, I'm here for the missions.

But, uh, thought, okay, well,
it's my birthday, so. And then.

So that was, that was a real downer.

After that failure,
obviously we needed to do

a complete review of the whole rocket.

So the whole launch
program ground to a halt.

We had been launching a rocket
about every six weeks or so,

and then we didn't launch a rocket
for six months.

And that put a lot of financial
stress on the company,

because we had all the cost
and none of the revenue.

One of the most
radical ideas that SpaceX has

to lower this horrendous cost

of getting into space is reusability.

It now costs $60 million every launch.

Send up a satellite, the rocket gets
destroyed, you've lost $60 million.

If you can reuse that
rocket a thousand times,

the cost goes from 60 million to $60,000.

The SES-10 mission features a Falcon 9

that had launched and landed once before.

If successful, this would
be an historic day for SpaceX,

the first re-flight of
an orbital class rocket.

We're going try to launch
our first reused rocket.

This company was founded to
make space more accessible.

And. uh, the fundamental key in doing
that is having a reusable rocket.

T-minus ten, nine.

It's going to drop the cost of
getting to Mars by a huge amount,

to come back and land at the
launch site and fly again.

- It's just like an aircraft.
- Two, one.

Liftoff of Falcon 9, the world's first
re-flight orbital class rocket.

The cost of fuel and oxygen

is very low compared to the
cost of the rocket booster

and the spaceship.

Stage separation confirmed.

Imagine if you took a
flight from New York to London.

And then, at the end of the flight,
they threw away the plane.

Imagine how much tickets would
have to cost for that flight

in order for the airline to make money.
That's ridiculous.

You reuse the plane.

I just don't think there's any way

to have a self-sustaining Mars base

without reusability. I mean,
this is really fundamental.

If wooden sailing ships in the
old days were not reusable,

I don't think the United States
would exist.

But reusability is a very hard problem,

because you've got to
enter the atmosphere

at an incredibly blazing-fast speed.

You've got to fire the rockets
into a supersonic airstream,

zero out your velocity,

deploy the landing gear, and land.

And you got one shot.

The pressure is so high on this one.

These rockets are complicated machines,
and, uh, we're doing something new.

There's always uncertainties
associated with that.

Right now, we're just
watching our screen here.

And hopefully we'll all see
a, a successful landing,

once again, altogether.

If they nail this
ability to land a rocket

from being in space on Earth.

Then they can nail doing it on Mars.

Of course, I still love you.
We have a Falcon 9 on board.

With the success of the SES-10 mission,

SpaceX had all the
ingredients to assemble

the most powerful launch vehicle
since Saturn V, the Falcon Heavy.

Heavy has the ability to lift more
than the weight of a 737 jet,

loaded with passengers,
crew, luggage, and fuel.

With reusable boosters and an
increased payload capacity,

it's able to transport the incredible

amount of supplies needed to build
a human civilization on Mars.

_

After static fire, we
come back into the hangar,

take the fairing off.

We'll have a lot of inspections to do.

We'll have a lot of data to review.

With Heavy, since this launch is a test,

there's a lot that we don't
know about the vehicle yet.

So, we've done hundreds or thousands
of tests of various systems,

but until you put it all together,

you don't really know
what's going to happen.

There's just really no
commercially viable heavy lift vehicle

out there today.

Heavy has about twice
the carrying capacity

of the next biggest
rocket that's out there.

To have the world's largest rocket
flying is really important.

It means we can launch
the larger payloads

that are necessary for getting
things to Mars as well.

Ultimately, any
launch vehicle is intended

to bring a payload to some sort of orbit.

When there's a
test launch of a new rocket,

the convention of the space
industry is actually quite boring.

Like, they'll literally
launch a block of concrete.

Why waste a good test launch
on a block of concrete?

What's the most fun thing that
we could send to Mars orbit?

The suggestion that everyone thought

was the most exciting was to
send a car through space.

And they're putting all sorts
of interesting bits and pieces

in the glove compartment,

in the trunk, and we want to have a
big sign that says, "Don't Panic!"

You know, from The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy.

Once we get the go-ahead from all
the responsible engineers saying that

their systems are okay and that
we've checked everything out,

we will put the payload in,

get everything buttoned up, and
finally seal that for flight,

bring it back out onto the pad,

go vertical again, and,
and be ready for launch.

_

One, one note on that top bullet.

So T-minus 30 seconds is when we're
looking to get all decisions

on a manual abort.

And after that, and after
that we are pencils down,

and will let the vehicle abort system

abort us if something is
truly wrong with the vehicle.

Today is kind of the final
checks of the launch vehicle.

Making sure that the pad and the
launch vehicle are connected together,

talking to teach other,
checking all the final systems,

and things like that.

Giving everyone an opportunity
to voice their opinion

about their readiness.

And we have to go look at
something, we'll go look at it.

And we'll go fix it.

There's so much that goes into preparing,

because this was the first time

this vehicle's ever been put together.

So the center core and the second
stage and the fairing are brand new,

but the side cores are actually
boosters that have flown before.

I can't remember how long it's been
since everybody's felt this nervous

and so electric about something.

Because the last thing we want
is to just rush into a disaster.

These types of complicated
missions require large teams

of differently-skilled people to work
together to accomplish something.

Okay, overall status on
work orders tracking very well.

Really impressive by that entire team.

You need people with
skills in a lot of different areas

with expertise in different areas.

But if you have these
big teams of experts,

the impossible really becomes possible.

And just, ID, sorry, one
additional question about winds.

It sounds like we'll be
fairly close to limits,

but still, if things play out tomorrow

- as expected, we'll be on the good side.
- That's right.

If there is a part of the
window that is favorable,

uh, he had to assess the
whole two-and-a-half

- hour window to give his 20 percent.
- Okay, got it.

Falcon Heavy is more complicated
machine, it's a bigger machine,

it's harder to analyze,
and there's more folks

that have to be involved to understand

how it's going to perform.

As we go through the challenges
and we run into problems,

I'm very thankful for the early days

for SpaceX and for launching rockets.

When Ricky Lim and I were
in the Marshall Islands,

when we were on Kwaj
launching Falcon 1's.

Liftoff.

We've had 10 years of
launching rockets together

and working through many,
many challenges.

And over the years, from Falcon 1
to Falcon 9 to Dragon Missions.

Falcon 9 and Dragon are in orbit.

Each one of these has been a
step that allows us to test out

and to build technology

that will eventually
allow us to go to Mars.

Dragon separation stage.

And Falcon Heavy is a next critical step

in the evolution of how we're going

to develop the Mars program.

Now, after almost a decade of work,

there are just 24 hours to go

before Falcon Heavy attempts
its maiden flight.

- All right. Okay.
- Hi.

Are you guys ready?

- Elon, in our lifetimes.
- Yeah.

Where will SpaceX take us or
where will humans go in space?

I'm very hopeful that
humanity will have a base

on the moon and a city on Mars
in our lifetimes.

- In our lifetimes?
- Yes. Yes.

Well, hopefully Falcon
Heavy will inspire people

to think about Mars because, you know,

there's all these defensive reasons of,

like, we want to be a
multi-planet species and,

and then having a life insurance policy

in case something bad happens to Earth.

But I personally don't find
that nearly as motivating

as the excitement of being

a space-faring civilization and
being a multi-planet species

and getting out there among

the stars and seeing what the
universe is all about.

I find it incredibly inspiring.

_

_

_

And when I talk to other
people they also find it inspiring.

The two side racers
are gonna start off the land

right over here.

The third one is gonna
continue going into orbit.

You know, in Apollo,

when people landed on the
moon for the first time,

that was something that was
great for all of humanity.

And there were people
that walked 50 miles

to find the one TV where they
could see the thing live.

What do you think
about this moon landing?

Well, it's the beginning of a
new frontier. The gateway to Mars.

So, whether you're rich or poor,

whatever country you're in,
everyone needs inspiration.

The number of people that came out

and traveled a really far distance,

coming across the country
in certain cases,

and to actually see the public

be that interested in what
we're doing is pretty amazing.

Elon Musk calls this rocket Falcon Heavy,

the biggest rocket to take off from here

since the Apollo moon missions.

This can very well
change the face of space travel.

_

Today's mission is all about the mantra,

"Go big or go home."

Heavy lift capability is
the critical technology needed

to enable human missions

to Mars, and a reusable,
heavy lift vehicle,

is the critical technology
need to settle Mars.

If Heavy, it works, it's an
even better rocket than Falcon 9,

cause it can deliver more payload.

And, you know, like
sending stuff to Mars,

Heavy is really the
vehicle we need for that.

Getting to Mars will be
risky, dangerous, uncomfortable,

but it'll be the greatest adventure
ever, ever in human history.

Hey Zack. It's me and Elon.

Yes, I see you there with Elon.

Did you see the picture I just sent you?

Uh, did you send it over email?

Yeah, I just sent it over email.

So the weather officer is telling
us that it trends better.

- Okay.
- Towards the end.

So we're thinking the recommendation

of going to the end of
the window is pretty.

An extra half-hour?

Um, it's fifty.

- It's 55 minutes.
- Four minutes.

So we're at 3:05 PM T-zero right
now and we have until 4:00 PM.

So if you look at the, uh, picture,

um, the dark blue line
is the latest line.

I'm trying to figure out if this

is trending positively or negatively.

That, that obviously affects
whether we postpone launch or not.

Hey guys, I'm going to give
us a little bit more time to decide.

I'm just going to push the plug.

Yeah, yeah, uh, don't,
yeah, hold the plug for now.

You got it.

When is the soonest we can launch?

The soonest we can launch, um,
we have 90 minute propellant load

at T-minus 85 minutes. That's
the point of no return.

- We start to make the T tab
on the second switch alert.

- 85 minutes.
- That's right. Yep.

Launch day is easily the
most nerve-racking day, ever.

Every launch, every mission,
you want to go perfectly.

But the last couple of hours,

everyone's just looking out for
things that can get in the way

and just removing blockers.

So Elon, I would like to give
you as many options as possible,

I just wanna get the
required items going now.

Okay.

- All right, fire away.
- You got it.

So 3:45 local, I'll give you options.

- Sounds good.
- Okay.

All right, here I go.

All right, he still needs
a little more time,

but we're gonna get the clock rolling.

3:45 pm local, and then,
give him some more time.

The window for the SpaceX
liftoff, is quickly closing down.

They have heavy winds at altitude,

and the wind shear at
altitude could affect

the trajectory of the rocket.

Stage two log slowed. Throttling back.

There's a lot of risk in flight.

There's a lot that could go wrong.

_

_

_

_

_

_

Stage two log slowed.

So about halfway
through the first stage's burn,

the two side boosters will
separate and come back to earth

for a simultaneous landing and
executing a three-burn maneuver

to get them back to landing
zones one and two,

and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Now, this second stage of the
fairing, right at the very top there,

that second stage will be
sending our payload way out

into a Mars crossing orbit.

So, if all goes well after launch,

we'll have three first
stage cores back on earth,

two for the second time,

and a wealth of data for
perfecting airplane-like operation

in the future.

T minus 10 minutes.

Falcon Heavy is on internal power.

Okay, everything's
great, guys. All systems green.

Okay. Party time.

- How do you feel?
- Good. I hope.

AFTS is ready for launch.

Falcon Heavy is in startup.

You know, I had this image,

just a giant explosion on the pad
with a wheel bouncing down the road,

and, uh, the side boosters
landing somewhere with a thud.

For Falcon Heavy we have to
light 27 engines simultaneously.

This is an incredible amount of force
and noise and vibration and heat.

We will do our best to minimize the risk
associated, but it's a test flight.

And if that thing, I hope, I sure hope
it doesn't, you know, touch wood,

but that thing could blow up on the pad.

SpaceX, Falcon Heavy, go for launch.

Falcon Heavy is on internal power.

AFTS is ready for launch.

Falcon Heavy is in start up.

Okay. So, what we do is launch off,

we run outside and watch it go up.

Actually, give it ten seconds,
'cause you won't be able to see it.

And then, in about ten seconds from that,

after we see this thing go, we're gonna.

T-minus 40 seconds.

T-minus 30 seconds.

Launch director on countdown one,

SpaceX Falcon Heavy, go for launch.

Falcon Heavy is configured for flight.

T-minus 15. Standby for terminal count.

And if one of those engines
fails, it will trigger an abort.

- All systems currently green.
- Okay, that's good.

10, 9. 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3. 2, 1, 0.

Ignition.

Liftoff. Liftoff.

Go, go, go, go, go. Off the pad.

Oh my, my God.

Oh my God!

Vehicle is supersonic.

You heard the call out.
Vehicle is supersonic.

Side boosters are now throttling
back up to full power.

Vehicle has reached
maximum dynamic pressure.

We passed max Q, the period
of maximum loads on the vehicle.

Oh my God, guys, it took off.

All right, go, go, go!

Go, go, go! Go, go, go!

Major event coming up with side
booster shutdown and separation.

Side boosters take off.

Successful separation!

Yes! Oh my God!

Whooo!

That's unreal.

What?!

We love you!

Central cores are shut down.

The separation confirmed.

Separate core booster start up behind.

Separate core start
from this point forward.

On your screen at the moment,

you've got a few things happening.

On the upper right, you've got
MVAC-D continuing its burn,

and on the two bottom screens,

you've got the side boosters headed back

towards Cape Canaveral Air Force Station,

landing zones one and two.

Both side boosters transonic.

Yes, light. Light.

coming soon,

See?

boom!

Side boosters landing legs have deployed.

LZ1 to LZ2, both side
boosters are touchdown.

Landing operators move on to
recovery one and recovery two.

Stage two, ASTS has saved.

I don't see any fire plumes over there.

That's the, the booster's
already over Africa.

It's going to be over
Nigeria right now. Yeah.

Stage two position.

That's the ground track.

It's fast!

New ways of traveling, guys.

Hugs, congrats.

Congrats, Charlie.

Holy cow! Look at that!

Dude, that is awesome.

Guys, do you see this?
Look at the car in space.

You guys have been in the car.
I've driven you in that car.

This is so trippy.

We want to demonstrate that Falcon Heavy

is capable of getting to Mars orbit.

- Yeah!!

If it's, like, out there
floating for millions

or maybe a billion years, and then,

you know, maybe long after human
civilization is maybe gone, maybe some,

some future ancient civilization will
come around and find it and say,

"Hey, this is cool. I wonder
what those guys were up to."

Awesome.

It's, it's one of those things
that's a reason to live.

Life cannot just be about solving one
miserable problem after another.

There have to be reasons that,

where you wake up in the
morning and you look forward

to being alive and you're
excited about the future.

...smile.

That's, I think, what Mars
represents most to me.

It's seeing what the
universe is all about.