Elon Musk has long railed against the U.S. government, saying a crushing number of federal probes and safety programs have stymied Tesla, his electric car company, and its efforts to create fleets of robotaxis and other self-driving automobiles.

According to SpaceX’s own calculation, the Roadster completed its first orbit around the Sun in August 2019 and made its first close approach to Mars on Oct. 7, 2020.

Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk is no stranger to hyperbole. For example, he once called the Hyperloop, which was never built, the "fifth mode of transport" and famously promised to take Tesla private in a Twitter post,