February 6, 2018 10:00pm EST | Updated SPACEX FALCON HEAVY LAUNCH: WHAT, WHEN AND WHY The second stage of Heavy fired three times and put it on an elliptical orbit around the Sun that extends out as far as Mars. There is an "extremely tiny" chance it could crash into the Red Planet, Musk said in comments obtained by The New York Times, but that is unlikely to happen. "The test launch of the Falcon Heavy is a spectacular demonstration of the comeback of Florida’s Space Coast and of the U.S. commercial launch sector, which is succeeding in a big way.," said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) on the Senate floor, discussing the launch. “That’s good news for the civil space program. It's good news for national security. It's good news for employment in the U.S. and it's great news for jobs and the economy." A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from historic launch pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., February 6, 2018. (REUTERS/Joe Skipper) Nelson is the top Democrat of the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the nation’s space program. The successful launch marks the beginning of a very busy schedule for the space vehicle. Later this year, it is scheduled to launch a communications satellite for a Saudi Arabian satellite operator, Arabsat. It is also scheduled to launch a test payload for the U.S. Air Force as soon as June, allowing the branch of the U.S. military to determine whether the Falcon Heavy is capable of launching national security payloads. The launch spacecraft's two side boosters successfully landed at Cape Canaveral. However, the central core did not stick the landing on a floating drone ship 300 miles off the Florida coast. Musk said late Tuesday the booster hit the water at 300 miles per hour because it could relight only one of the three engines needed to land. SpaceX is committed to a strategy of re-using rocket boosters to lower the cost of spaceflight, although this was its first attempt to land three boosters in the same launch. Shortly after launch Elon Musk tweeted remarkable video footage of the Tesla Roadster and Starman in space. "View from SpaceX Launch Control. Apparently, there is a car in orbit around Earth," he wrote. "This achievement, along with @NASA’s commercial and international partners, continues to show American ingenuity at its best!" President Trump tweeted Thursday night. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow Chris Ciaccia on Twitter @Chris_Ciaccia Fox News Artificial Intelligence Stay up-to-date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI Arrives