It has been over seven years since Elon Musk’s personal Tesla Roadster was launched into space aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket. The historic February 2018 launch sent the cherry-red sports car, with a mannequin named Starman behind the wheel, into orbit around the sun. The Roadster is still out there, traveling through space, and its journey continues to capture the imagination of space enthusiasts.
A website, Whereisroadster.com, created by Ben Pearson, regularly tracks the car’s location and distance traveled. As of today, the vehicle has traveled a staggering 3.5 trillion miles since its launch. According to the site, it takes the car about 557 days to orbit the sun, and it has far exceeded its original 36,000-mile warranty by over 97,000 times. “It has achieved a fuel economy of 11,782.9 kilometres per litre,” the site states.
Interestingly, the car made a memorable start to its space adventure by playing David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” through its speakers. If the car’s battery and speakers are still functional, Starman would have heard the song over 698,000 times by now.
The mannequin, named Starman, has completed around 4.6 orbits of the sun since the launch. As of now, the car has driven enough to cover all the world’s roads 86.8 times. According to Whereisroadster.com, “It has been 7 years, 14 days, 8 hours, 9 minutes, and 58 seconds since launch.”
Earlier this year, Musk’s car was accidentally identified as an asteroid. On January 2, 2025, the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center mistakenly classified it as a newly discovered near-Earth object named 2018 CN41. However, a day later, they corrected the mistake, confirming the object’s true identity as the Tesla Roadster and its Falcon Heavy upper stage.
Looking ahead, the red sports car is expected to make a close encounter with Earth in 2091 when it will come within a few hundred thousand kilometers of the planet.
For now, the Roadster continues its orbit in space, a symbol of Musk’s audacious vision and a milestone in the history of space exploration.
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