Video footage exhibiting the launch of a spacecraft has recently gone viral. Social media users have indulged in the video, describing the launch as ‘amazing’.
The footage captures the Russian Progress MS-10 cargo spacecraft taking off from Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on 16 November 2018 at 18:14 GMT. The video was recorded by ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst, from the vantage of the International Space Station.
The ESA reveals that the video is actually a time-lapse taken from the European-built Cupola module.
The time-lapse encompasses an accumulation of images captured at steady intervals, then “played quickly after each other at 8 to 16 times normal speed”, resulting in a feigned, fluid video.
The ESA details the logistics of the launch:
“The spacecraft was launched atop a Soyuz rocket with 2564 kg of cargo and supplies. Flying at 28 800 km/h, 400 km high, the International Space Station requires regular supplies from Earth such as this Progress launch. Spacecraft are launched after the Space Station flies overhead so they catch up with the orbital outpost to dock, in this case two days later on 18 November 2018.”
Credit: ESA
The ESA further states “The Progress spacecraft delivered food, fuel and supplies, including about 750 kg of propellant, 75 kg of oxygen and air and 440 l of water.”
One social media user tweeted the footage with awe, quickly attracting viral attention.
The ESA shares notable instants in the video:
00:07 (“Soyuz-FG rocket booster separation”), 00:19 (“Core stage separation”), 00:34:05 (“Core stage starts burning in atmosphere as it returns to Earth after having spent all its fuel”), 00:34:19 (“Progress spacecraft separates from rocket and enters orbit to catch up with the International Space Station”).
Check out the full footage below.
