Rockets

Don’t blink, or you might miss this insanely-fast sled as it zooms down the test rails at the U.S. Air Force’s Holloman Air Force Base. The rocket sled was clocked at a mindbending 6,599 mph as it almost instantly hit its peak speed. That’s roughly 8.6 times the speed of sound.

SpaceX continues to refine its reusable rocket, showing off a test where the Starhopper used its SN6 Raptor engine to launch nearly 500 feet into the air, then navigate over a landing pad, and touch down smoothly and in one piece. The company now hopes to apply the same tech to larger rockets.

To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch, the talented visual artists of 59 Productions created an incredible projection mapping on the Washington Monument that replicated the launch of the Saturn V rocket and its mission to the moon. Drew Geraci of District 7 Media shared this pristine 4K footage of the event.

After offering up a size shootout between Star Wars spacecraft, MetaBallStudios decided to do the same with some real world rockets and spaceships, from the diminutive 42 foot Black Arrow to the ginormous Saturn V, which was over 360 feet tall. They should have included some model rockets for comparison.

Filmmakers Ryan Chylinski and MaryLiz Bender used high-speed cameras to capture incredible imagery from the launches of various SpaceX rockets. The footage is part of a larger project called Guidance Internal: Lessons from Astronauts, which is currently raising production funds on Kickstarter.

This intricate, limited-edition writing instrument is modeled after the Saturn V rocket that carried the Apollo 11 astronauts to the moon. Each pen is made from sterling silver or 18k gold, with resin componentry, and either fountain or rollerball versions.

Mark Rober and his friends worked with Destin of Smarter Every Day to add rockets to a golf club. The resulting contraption can consistently propel a golf ball to 150mph. It’s so powerful, they couldn’t find the balls it hit. They also made a weaker handheld version.

Warped Perception takes an up-close look at a highly critical, but underappreciated element of every rocket launch – the igniters which get the rocket fuel going. The result is some truly stunning slow-motion macro footage. Watch in 4K if you can.

BrainfooTV shows us how to make nifty little rockets using ordinary household items like aluminum foil and strike-anywhere matches. They fire as far as 60 feet, and are surprisingly stable and accurate. The tailfins aren’t required, but they do make them look cooler.

The European Space Agency shared this stunning time-lapse footage captured from the vantage point of the International Space Station, as astronaut Alexander Gerst watched a Russian Soyuz rocket take flight and head towards the ISS with fresh supplies.

Destroyer of things Daved Windestal built a totally insane RC car. By attaching a powerful model rocket engine to the middle of a HobbyKing Desert Fox racer, it’s able to jump over obstacles without a ramp. Perhaps a parachute would be a good addition next time.

Learn a little bit about the chemistry and physics that go into the construction of a basic rocket in this clip from BBC Earth Lab’s Bang Goes the Theory. The demonstration with the oxy-acetylene soda bottle rockets is neat, but is way too dangerous to try at home.

Most of the footage of SpaceX’s rockets are shot from far away, with little to no context to their size. Corridor Crew thought it would be nice to stack them up next to buildings so we can appreciate just how amazing it is that these babies can land and be reused.

(Loud) Here’s two minutes of porn for rocket junkies, as private space exploration company Blue Origin tests out one of their BE-4 rockets which can produce 550,000 lb-ft. of thrust. And if you think that looked powerful, keep in mind that this was just at 65% of full throttle.

LEGO Certified Professional Ryan “The Brickman” McNaught and his team recently completed this replica of NASA’s SLS Rocket. The model measures nearly 25 ft tall, weighs 1100+ lb, and was built using 460,323 LEGO bricks, and took over 563 hours to complete.

Inspired by the cluster of rocket engines at the base of the SpaceX Falcon 9, Andrew McCalip of Cosine Additive created this slick modern hanging lamp. Each of its nozzles is 3D printed from either polycarbonate or PPS-carbon fiber reinforced material. Appx. 34.8″ diam.

The largest privately-built rocket successfully took flight from the Kennedy Space Center, carrying test cargo in the form of Elon Musk’s red Tesla Roadster into space. As exciting as the launch was, the dual rocket booster landing was simply stunning. Skip to 28:39

Photographer Jesse Watson captured some stunning time-lapse imagery of a recent launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as it lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base. The visuals are a stark contrast to the crummy dash cam video that’s been going viral.

David Windestal has been entertaining us for a while with his rocket knife-powered destructive antics for a while. This time he and his pals pulled out all the stops, with a nighttime run with LEDs, sparklers, spray paints, and an enormous fireball… all to create modern art.

Elon Musk’s visionary concept would employ reusable rockets to launch passengers into space, around the globe at speeds up to 18,000 mph, and from NY to LA in 25 minutes. They’ll need to work out the landing kinks before this would possibly be safe for humans.

Warped Perception demonstrates exactly why it pays to use a really good slow motion camera, showing off what happens when you drop a model rocket engine into an aquarium, then ignite it. Rest assured, no fish were harmed. Explody bits start at 2:40.

After watching Adam Savage and his pals assemble the new LEGO Saturn V rocket, we already wanted one. But JK Brickworks went and made it even more droolworthy, adding LEDs to the engines, as well as a speaker that plays sounds from NASA’s Apollo missions.

Adam, Will and Norm got their hands on the awesome LEGO Ideas NASA Apollo Saturn V scale model rocket a bit earlier than us mere mortals. Watch them unbox, methodically knoll parts, and build the set. Assembly and story time start at 2:25.

Every time we think we’re done with the fidget spinner fad, somebody comes along and amps these silly playthings up to the next level. The Backyard Scientist decided that he couldn’t spin his fast enough, so he added a propulsion system, and upping the danger factor by 100x.

Based on a proposal by LEGO Ideas members Felix Stiessen and Valérie Roche, this model kit features a 3ft-tall (1:110 scale) model of the Saturn V, the most powerful rocketship ever built. It comes with a lunar lander and three astronaut microfigs.

Grant “The King of Random” Thompson previously tested the myth that mixing propane and Coca-Cola would turn it into a pressure-packed rocket, and failed. He tried it again with butane, and the highly-flammable stuff works brilliantly. Definitely don’t try this one at home.

After building a car engine we could see inside of, Warped Perception split some model rocket engines down the middle and sealed them under plexiglas so we can watch them ignite. We think an acrylic tube would burn more accurately, but it’s still awesome to watch.

The Slow Mo Guys filmed 6ft tall paper rockets made by a group of students at Purdue University. The rockets were fueled by solid propellants, just like missiles and boosters. They soar faster than the speed of sound, albeit for only a few seconds.

NightHawkInLight walks us through the basic science behind hybrid rockets, and the process behind building a compact rocket using acrylic rod and a canister of oxygen to control its output on demand.

In 1974, daredevil Evel Knievel infamously failed to jump the Snake River Canyon on a rocket bike. Now, stuntman Eddie Braun has pulled off the stunt, launching 2000ft into the sky off a 10-story ramp, at over 400mph. We’re hoping for some GoPro footage, but so far nothing.