Blast Off from the Upside Down: A Spectacular View of Rocket Launches from Space

Have you ever watched a rocket launch and thought, “Wow, this is great, but I really wish I could see it from the perspective of an extraterrestrial?”

Well, put your cosmic wish list aside because we’ve got just the video for you!

Picture this: Earth’s atmosphere, glittering with city lights, as a Russian Soyuz-FG rocket—yes, the one that sounds like it should come with a side of borscht—shoots up into the vastness of space. Launched in November 2018 from the venerable Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, this beauty wasn’t just packing its bags for a leisurely orbit. It was on a mission to deliver the Progress MS-10 module, stocked with goodies essential for the astronauts lounging inside the International Space Station (ISS).

Now, let’s take a closer look—cue the dramatic music, please. The 90-second time-lapse video condenses about 15 fascinating minutes of rocket choreography. The Earth below twinkles like a disco ball on a moonlit night. You can just about hear the distant murmurs of life as city lights flicker, while fluffy clouds waltz in the frame. Whoever said clouds were just water vapor clearly didn’t catch this aerial performance!

And there, running diagonally across the center, are the elegant blue and gold bands of atmospheric airglow. If the atmosphere were dressed for a night out, this would be its dazzling gown, glimmering and shimmering like it just stepped out of a sci-fi rave. Honestly, we can’t blame the atoms for wanting to show off!

As the rocket takes off, the stars on the upper right wave goodbye, fading behind the round globe of our home planet. They probably had their own celestial soirée to get back to. Meanwhile, the lower stage of our rocket superstar begins its grounded descent, falling back to Earth like a dramatic lead actor exiting stage left. Just when you think it’s all over, the robotic supply ship comes into view, firing its thrusters with the precision of that last-minute customer at a Black Friday sale.

And let’s not forget to tip our hats to the superheroes aboard the ISS, who, in 2023, celebrated a remarkable 25 years of floating around like the ultimate live-in science lab. These brave astronauts juggle the thrilling task of conducting numerous experiments while dodging the occasional space burrito. They’re not just pushing pencils; they’re cooking up the future of commercial industry in low Earth orbit!

So, grab your popcorn and settle down for this cosmic show. Watching a rocket launch from space isn’t just a feast for the eyes; it’s an invitation to gaze into the future—where science, adventure, and a touch of cosmic irony collide in the most spectacular way! And just think, the next time you gaze up at the night sky, you might just see a distant rocket making its theatrical ascent, en route to bring supplies and exploration to the final frontier. And what could be more mesmerizing than that?
Image via NASA https://ift.tt/CZkbK3I