What payload did SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy carry on its first test flight in February 2018?

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy carried a Tesla Roadster as its payload on its first test flight in February 2018.

The demonstration launch lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center on February 6, 2018. Elon Musk’s personal midnight-cherry Tesla Roadster was placed in a heliocentric orbit intended to reach roughly the distance of Mars from the Sun.

The car carried a mannequin nicknamed “Starman” in the driver’s seat. Its dashboard displayed the phrase “DON’T PANIC,” a reference to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The payload was a real production car, not a functioning spacecraft.

Falcon Heavy used three Falcon 9-derived cores and 27 Merlin engines at liftoff. The mission successfully demonstrated the rocket’s ability to launch a heavy payload, although the center core missed its drone-ship landing.