The SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

It's been more than 15 years since inventor, plutocrat, and Tesla Inc. co-founder/CEO/product architect Elon Musk launched SpaceX, his own private aerospace manufacturing firm and space transport services company, to reduce the costs of space transportation and ultimately, explore and colonize Mars.

And in just about an hour, SpaceX will present the demonstration blastoff of its long-awaited Falcon Heavy rocket, apparently the most powerful since Saturn V (which took Apollo astronauts to the moon).

The Federal Aviation Administration gave the official go-ahead on Friday, when it issued a license to SpaceX for "A flight of the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) transporting the modified Tesla Roadster (mass simulator) to a hyperbolic orbit." This is a rocket carrying, essentially, a pimped-for-space sports car.


In any event, you can watch the live liftoff below; it was pushed back to 11:20 PT due to weather concerns...

And here's an animation of what it's supposed to do if everything goes according to plan.