Tesla first showed off a new Roadster back in 2017 and promised it would be on the road by 2020. Nearly a decade later, on October 15, it finally revealed the production version, and the car did something no Tesla has done before: it briefly left the ground.
At a livestreamed event at SpaceX's test site near Waco, Texas, the Roadster drove up a curved ramp until it was upside down, rolled through the air and landed back on its wheels. It also lifted off and glided over a line of parked Teslas.
How a car does a flip
The trick is SpaceX hardware. The Roadster uses cold-gas thrusters, which push out compressed gas through nozzles to shove the car through the air. There's no fuel and no flames, just a very hard push in the right direction.
There will be three versions. Performance is the everyday road car. Thrust adds rear thrusters for 0 to 60 mph in under a second. Rocket is a single-seater with thrusters all around the body. Tesla says all three get a 300-mile range and top out above 230 mph.
The date to watch: 2028
Reservations have reopened, but production isn't planned until 2028, and Tesla hasn't announced a price. Given the Roadster has already slipped by about eight years, that 2028 date is the real test of this launch.
The bigger Musk picture
The Roadster isn't the only place Tesla and SpaceX are coming together. Musk has said both companies have set up committees of independent directors to study a possible merger. Here's what that would mean.
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Source: Tesla (official YouTube channel)