Business tycoon Elon Musk's SpaceX has created history by successfully launching the Falcon Heavy rocket, the most powerful operational rocket in the world, into outer space.

The rocket, which is on its course to the orbit of planet Mars, is the first step in Musk's ambitious dream to send humans to Mars and create a colony on the planet.

The rocket made its successful launch at 3.45 pm Eastern time (2.15 am IST on Wednesday) from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and SpaceX offered a live coverage of the whole process.

As the rocket shot off to outer space, the tree Falcon 9 boosters attached to the engine attempted to land at three different sites back on Earth.

While the two side boosters successfully landed back, the landing of core booster that was supposed to land on SpaceX's drone ship in the Atlantic is yet to be ascertained as the smoke obscured the camera view.

Test rockets typically carry a dummy payload, and Musk chose his cherry red Tesla Roadster along with a dummy driver inside for the ambitious mission.

The SpaceX's live video also cut to a shot inside the car that shows the words 'DON'T PANIC' written on the dashboard.Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy, at one-third the cost.  -- ANI

IMAGE: A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from historic launch pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Tuesday. Photograph: Thom Baur/Reuters