Ever seen a rocket launch as seen from space? Footage of the launch of Russia’s Soyuz rocket straight from the International Space Station (ISS) makes for an incredible time-lapse video.
Rocket Launch Seen From The ISS
Last Nov. 16, Russian Progress MS-10 cargo spacecraft launched atop the Soyuz-FG rocket from Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. Up in the ISS, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Alexander Gerst took an incredible time-lapse that showed the Soyuz rocket as it launched into space, looking like a mere dot.
The footage was actually shot with a camera that was set to take photographs at regular intervals. The photos were then played one after the other at eight to 16 times the normal speed, resulting in the over one-minute video that shows about 15 minutes of the launch.
Some notable parts of the video are the core stage separation, when the core stage starts burning in the atmosphere, and when Progress spacecraft separates from the rocket and enters orbit.
Progress MS-10 And Soyuz Rocket
Progress MS-10 was carrying 5,653 lbs. (2,564 kg) of cargo and supplies as it flew at 17,895.49 miles per hour (28,800 km per hour) at 248.55 miles high (400 km high). It carried cargo for the ISS such as food, oxygen and air, fuel and supplies, propellant, and water. After its Nov. 16 launch, it caught up with the orbital outpost to dock two days later.
Initially, Progress MS-10 was supposed to launch on a different rocket, but it was changed just this past August to use the Soyuz-FG launcher instead.
Soyuz-FG is actually an older version of the Soyuz variant, with the main difference being Soyuz-FG’s analog control system, whereas the newer Soyuz 2 has updated engines, digital flight control and telemetry systems, and improved injection systems. This gives the Soyuz 2 the capability to launch from a fixed platform, whereas the Soyuz-FG has to be physically turned and alighted because of its incapability to do a roll maneuver after liftoff.
That launch marked the return of Soyuz-FG after its failure last October.
