Don't Panic! Starman Roadster launched

Copied from BUSINESS INSIDER Feb. 6, 2018

SpaceX launched its Falcon Heavy rocket — the company's biggest yet — into space on Tuesday. It carried Elon Musk's own midnight-cherry red Tesla Roadster. Soon after the launch, Musk tweeted out a live feed of the car, and its driver — a dummy named Starman (after the David Bowie song) — with Earth in the background.

It's not the only pop culture reference in this car. Right in the middle of the car, on the center screen, are the words "Don't Panic." It's a reference to "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," the 1979 book that was first in a series by Douglas Adams about an accidental space traveler named Arthur Dent. In the story, the Guide itself has the words "Don't Panic" on its cover.

Musk, who first read "The Hitchhiker's Guide" as a teenager, has said that he loves the book. In a 2015 interview he said the spaceship from the book was his favorite from science fiction. "I'd have to say [my favorite] would be the one in 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' that's powered by the improbability drive," Musk said.