Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster bound for asteroid belt after launch on SpaceX Falcon Heavy

If Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster and its "Starman" driver are to survive in space for hundreds of millions of years, they may have to dodge some asteroids. 

Musk confirmed late Tuesday that a final burn by the rocket's upper stage engine had successfully initiated a "trans-Mars injection" intended to boost the car into an orbit around the sun stretching as far out as Mars.

Turns out it will go a bit farther out into deep space than that.

"Third burn successful," Musk reported on Twitter. "Exceeded Mars orbit and kept going to the Asteroid Belt."

[SpaceX's Falcon Heavy launch captured imaginations – and that was just a test]

[Musk: Falcon Heavy's center booster hit ocean 'hard,' damaged drone ship]

Before that point in the flight, Musk said the sight of the Falcon Heavy launching and his car floating several thousand miles above Earth was "surreal."

"It’s kind of silly and fun, but I think silly, fun things are important," he said.

Musk noted that outside of the atmosphere, the car's cherry red color looked "weird," too crisp" — proof that it was real. 

"You can tell it’s real because it looks so fake," he joked. ""It’s just literally a normal car in space, which I kind of like the absurdity of that."

A new rocket flying a demonstration flight would typically launch something like a block of concrete to simulate the mass of a spacecraft.

Musk and SpaceX decided that was too boring.

"And I think the imagery of it is something that’s going to get people excited around the world," he said. "And it’s still tripping me out."

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com. And follow on Twitter at @flatoday_jdean and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SpaceTeamGo.