The orbit
Starman travels on an ellipse between about 0.99 AU (just inside Earth’s orbit) and 1.66 AU (beyond Mars), tilted about 1° to the plane of the planets. One lap takes roughly 557 days.
Where is Starman? Live tracker of the Tesla Roadster in space
Starman Tracker
98.2 million km
from Earth as of October 15, 2026. Loading the live view
Starman Tracker
98.2 million km
from Earth as of October 15, 2026. Loading the live view
About Starman
A sports car, a mannequin, and a very long road trip
On 6 February 2018 the first Falcon Heavy lifted off from Kennedy Space Center carrying an unusual test payload: a cherry-red Tesla Roadster with a spacesuit-clad mannequin, “Starman”, at the wheel. Instead of a block of concrete, the dummy payload became a car on an endless loop around the Sun.
98.2million km from Earth
224.4million km from the Sun
22.7km/s around the Sun
5.7orbits completed
Snapshot for October 15, 2026, currently in Aquarius. The live view above updates continuously.
Close calls
It passed 7.4 million km from Mars on 7 October 2020. Its next close pass of Earth is predicted for January 2047, at about 4.8 million km, roughly 12 times the distance to the Moon.
What’s on board
A “DON’T PANIC” sign on the dashboard, a Hot Wheels Roadster with a tiny Starman, a copy of Asimov’s Foundation on a quartz data disc, and a plaque with the names of over 6,000 SpaceX employees.
How we know where it is
NASA/JPL’s Horizons system models the car’s path from telescope observations made in 2018. This site downloads its trajectory once a day and interpolates smoothly between points in your browser.
Can I see it?
No, sorry. Even in 2018 it was fainter than magnitude 20. Today it is far dimmer, beyond the reach of any amateur telescope. The red marker in the 3D view is the closest you’ll get.
Is it still a car?
Probably not a pretty one. Years of unfiltered sunlight, cosmic rays and temperature swings have likely cracked the paint, faded the fabric and broken down the tyres and plastics.