On February 6, 2018, a Falcon Heavy rocket launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida with a roadster belonging to Elon Musk on board. At the wheel of the car – one of the very first models built by Tesla – sat a mannequin nicknamed "Starman," a nod to the David Bowie (1947-2016) song. A message urging calm was displayed on the dashboard screen : "Don't panic!" It was a nod to British novelist Douglas Adams (1952-2001).

The launch was a test to demonstrate the prowess of the Falcon Heavy rocket, built by SpaceX. Musk came up with the idea of sending a Tesla Roadster into space as cargo, referencing the 1981 animated film Heavy Metal and its convertible cruising through interstellar space. It's also because it was not feasible to risk carrying satellites and have to reimburse their owners if the mission failed. Some saw it as an outlandish marketing stunt, while others considered it a flagrant act of pollution.

The first novel ever sent into orbit around Mars was slipped into the glove compartment of the car: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, a bestseller written by an author passionate about both science and nonsense. A towel was also placed inside, since a towel is a useful object for hitchhiking through space, as anyone who has taken the time to listen to, watch or read Adams's "five-part trilogy" knows.

"H2G2" to insiders, short for the original title The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, tells the story of Arthur Dent, a thoroughly ordinary Englishman in a bathrobe, who, one morning while nursing a severe hangover, escapes the destruction of Earth by an extraterrestrial construction vessel thanks to his best friend.

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