World's biggest rocket soars towards Mars

Cape Canaveral

THE world's most powerful rocket, SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, blasted off on Tuesday on its highly anticipated maiden test flight, carrying SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk's cherry red Tesla Roadster toward an orbit near Mars.

Screams and cheers erupted at mission control in Cape Canaveral, Florida, as the massive rocket fired its 27 engines and rumbled into the blue sky over the same Nasa launchpad that served as a base for the US missions to the moon four decades ago.