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The launch of SpaceX’s strongest rocket over the weekend was seen from orbit.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy lifted off Sunday (Jan. 15) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, sending a number of satellites aloft for the U.S. Space Force on a mission known as USSF-67.
Photographers on the bottom captured great shots of the launch. One off-Earth observer did as properly — the International Space Station (ISS), which occurred to be in the appropriate place on the proper time on Sunday.
Related: 8 ways SpaceX has transformed spaceflight forever
“An external high-definition camera on the International Space Station captured the launch plume of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket after it had ascended to Earth orbit following its liftoff on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida,” NASA officers wrote in a description of the photo (opens in new tab).
“The space station was flying 262 miles [422 kilometers] above the Atlantic Ocean just after an orbital sunset at the time of this photograph,” they added.
This view from the station exhibits the launch plume of the @SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket after its liftoff on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023, from @NASAKennedy in Florida. pic.twitter.com/TRWNggsGasJanuary 19, 2023
USSF-67 was the fifth-ever mission for the Falcon Heavy, which employs three strapped-together Falcon 9 first levels. The flight lofted a navy communications satellite tv for pc known as Continuous Broadcast Augmenting SATCOM 2 and 5 smaller spacecraft for the Space Force.
The Heavy, which generates greater than 5 million tons of thrust at liftoff, was till not too long ago essentially the most highly effective operational rocket on the planet. NASA’s enormous Space Launch System (SLS) claimed that title when it launched for the primary time on Nov. 16, 2022, on the company’s Artemis 1 moon mission. (The SLS generates about 8.8 million kilos of thrust at liftoff.)
SpaceX launched 61 orbital missions in 2022, and 2023 might be an excellent larger yr for the corporate. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said last August (opens in new tab) that the corporate was “aiming for up to 100 flights” in 2023.
SpaceX has launched 5 missions to date this yr, together with two in the past two days. USSF-67 was the one mission of those 5 to make use of a Falcon Heavy; the opposite 4 employed Falcon 9s.
Mike Wall is the writer of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a guide concerning the seek for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
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