Now I wonder at which stage of development a Tesla Roadster got that certification

“We certified the Tesla roadster to space flight loads and dynamics” - Can’t beat that kinda of safety engineering! :)

I'm pretty sure it will be launched as an inert hunk of metal and plastic. Batteries will be removed, fluids drained, etc.

I agree. The vibroacoustics and shock environments in a fairing are intense. He would likely have to rebuild the car from scratch to pass testing. Last thing you want is a wheel vibrating off and bouncing around in the fairing during flight. That could cause big problems with loads and/or controls.

> I'm also fairly sure Musk has already considered doing this, and reached a conclusion that it wasn't feasible.

Do you have evidence of this? Or is it just a hunch...?

The man is head of a successful private space launch company (a phrase which would have sounded oxymoronic just a couple of decades ago) which has achieved some significant firsts. Assuming he’s not a complete idiot in this field should be the default.

I am sure there is no evidence, but is literally the most basic and first assumed thing. The man who brought you reusable rockets didn't forget to think about the most basic thing first.