Tesla's new flying Roadster did exactly what Elon Musk said it would in a post 8 years ago

Elon Musk may have been years late on his Roadster deadline, but the tech Tesla showed off was just as described eight years ago.

Win McNamee/Getty Images Musk described his plans for the Tesla Roadster during a 2019 exchange with YouTuber MKBHD.

On Thursday, the Roadster did exactly as Musk promised nearly eight years ago, leaping into the air.

While Musk missed his own deadline by years, the technology on display was just as he described it.

It's been a long time coming.

Almost eight years ago, in January 2019, Elon Musk shared plans on Twitter for Tesla's Roadster to lift off using cold-gas thrusters and ultra-high-pressure air.

On Thursday, the much-anticipated Roadster did exactly that.

Musk's 2019 assertion came in response to a user sharing a GIF of the DeLorean from "Back to the Future" hovering in midair.

"The new Roadster will actually do something like this," he wrote.

Tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee responded: "The thing is I feel like you’re not joking." "I'm not," Musk said.

I’m not.

Will use SpaceX cold gas thruster system with ultra high pressure air in a composite over-wrapped pressure vessel in place of the 2 rear seats. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 9, 2019 He then described a SpaceX-made cold-gas thruster system that uses high-pressure air stored in a composite pressure vessel.

At a SpaceX test site in Texas on Thursday, almost 8 years later, a Roadster climbed a curved ramp, dropped, rolled through the air and landed on its wheels.

It used the same basic technology: cold-gas thrusters fed by high-pressure air stored in composite pressure vessels.