SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk has reveled he had massive doubts when first embarking on the development of the world's most powerful rocket, Falcon Heavy, which he impressively launched on its first test flight today.
In a press conference following the home-run Falcon Heavy launch today in Florida, Musk said he couldn't help seeing the countless things that could have possibly gone wrong.
"It taught me crazy things can come true because, you could say, I didn't really think this would work," Musk said.
"When I see the rocket lift off I see a thousand things that could not work and it's amazing when they do.
"You could imagine large numbers of those just coming in, landing, taking off, landing, doing many flights per day, so I think it gives me a lot of faith for our next architecture."
The Falcon Heavy rocket blasted off today from the same Florida launch pad used by NASA nearly 50 years ago to send men to the moon.
With liftoff, the Heavy became the most powerful rocket in use today.
Its three boosters and 27 engines roared to life at Kennedy Space Center.
Not only did the rocket lift a red sports car into orbit — with a dummy "Starman" at the wheel — two of the three boosters came back and landed upright at Cape Canaveral.
The 15-story boosters landed at the same time, side by side.
The centre booster of the Falcon Heavy slammed into the Atlantic at 300 mp/h, missing the floating landing platform.
Musk says it hit the water with such force that shrapnel flew onto the droneship's deck and took out two engines.
Despite the loss, Musk revelled in today's successful launch of the powerful Falcon Heavy and the recovery of the two side boosters.
He said watching the simultaneous side-by-side touchdowns of those two boosters at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station was probably the most exciting thing he's ever seen.
If the cameras on the ocean platform were not wiped out, Musk says he'll try to salvage the video and add the images to his greatest bloopers' reel of exploding rockets.
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