SpaceX successfully deploys the Star man

Mars Orbit? Really?

The title of this post is incorrect. We have to wait a few hours to know if the rocket man has made it to Mars orbit.

EDIT: It's not a Mars orbit, its a solar orbit that puts it close to Mars at times.

From the linked article: "If all phases of the flight are successful - and that will not be known until at least 6.5 hours after lift-off - the Tesla and its passenger will be despatched into an elliptical orbit around the Sun that reaches out as far as the Planet Mars."

That's the plan, but this article is way too premature and the title is a little misleading. They want to put it into solar orbit at Mars' distance.

However, they are going to wait 6 hours to fire the second stage for a third burn which would actually put it in orbit. They want it to be exposed to radiation and test how well the booster holds up before the final burn.

Actually, no, once the 2nd stage cuts off the trajectory is mostly fixed and we know what orbit it is in. There are, I believe, two more small burns that will be done to adjust the trajectory, but these are more of an adjustment to what kind of Martian transfer orbit it is in. It already has the hyperbolic velocity to leave Earth's orbit, and enter solar orbit with an apogee at the same distance as Mars.

In 6.5 hours SpaceX will have finished everything they wanted to test with this flight I believe, including a number of post-launch checks of various systems and sensors on the payload, and those re-ignition tests of the 2nd stage.

No, it's a Martian transfer orbit, albeit without Mars at the other end.