The launch of the Falcon Heavy on February 6, 2018, with the now famous Starman sitting aboard a Tesla roadster, will remain in people's memories forever. Even so SpaceX have put together an awesome video documenting the historic event put to the music of what else than a Space Oddity by David Bowie.
When SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy lifted off, it became the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. With the ability to lift into orbit nearly 64 metric tonnes (141,000 lbs) - a mass greater than a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage and fuel - Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy, at one-third the cost.
Following liftoff, there was a moment of great significance as the two side boosters separated from the center core and returned to landing site for future reuse. This is a great cost saving measure for future launches, although there was a problem with the central booster and that failed to return properly, crashing into the Atlantic Ocean.
The reason for the Falcon Heavy launch was to put a Tesla Roadster and its passenger, Starman, into orbit around the sun as a dummy payload (basically a test). At max velocity Starman and the Roadster will travel 11 km/s (7mi/s) and travel 400 million km (250 million mi) from Earth.
Created under the supervision of SpaceX founder Elon Musk it only used private capital, with no government financing provided for its development.
Originally discussed way back in 2004 there was a plan to carry humans into space beyond low Earth orbit, especially to the Moon, Mars and potentially to asteroids, however after the largely successful launch Musk has stated that he does not plan to apply for a human-rating certificate needed to carry people.
There are at least another further 3 launches planned over the next couple of years, but these will primarily be launching numerous satellites and the like into orbit.
Anyway, check out the brilliant video below.