THE BEST Rockets

Combining vinegar and baking soda inside a soda bottle creates an explosive amount of pressure – enough to launch the bottle sky high. Nick Uhas wanted to see not only how far he could make a soda bottle fly horizontally using this method, but also what would happen if he super-sized the experiment using a 5-gallon water jug.

SpaceX shared this sped-up footage of its Falcon 9 rocket as it took its SAOCOM 1B satellite payload into polar orbit, then returned its first stage safely to Earth. It’s worth watching if only for the rhythmic sounds that the thrusters make as they pulse on and off.

Warped Perception enjoys seeing how things look in slow-motion. He recently got the idea to launch a model rocket from inside of an aquarium, letting us see how it behaves both in and out of the water. We love the way its exhaust plume changes as it breaks the surface of the water.

Nominal is a unique pen with a design inspired by the retractable legs on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Each pen is made from 34 individual components, and is available in aluminum or stainless steel. A magnetic “crew cabin” slides off to reveal a black mother of pearl end cap, which can be monogrammed for a small fee.

Among its projects, SpaceX is working on Starship, a rocket which may someday help colonize Mars. In this test of Starship’s can-shaped SN5 test vehicle, the rocket launched from one pad, hovered at 500 feet, then landed on another, a process which could allow for quick exploration of distant sites across the red planet.

The S loves to build all kinds of things out of matchsticks, then light them on fire. In this clip, he built a cardboard model of a disc-shaped UFO, filled it up with 25,000 of the incendiary devices, then set them ablaze with awesome results. The spinning part of the lift-off was a nice touch.

Launching rockets – even small ones – requires lots of precision math, engineering smarts, and attention to detail. So we appreciate this clip from BPS.space which shows off some of the many ways in which they screwed up, not the least of which being those first few launches in populous locations.

We used to play with those see-through water-powered rockets. Now, Haze Gray Art envisions what the Saturn V, Space Shuttle, Falcon Heavy, and the Space Launch System might look like if you could see inside of their fuel tanks during lift-off. The red is RP-1 kerosene, the orange is liquid hydrogen, and the blue is liquid oxygen.

Using an ultra high-speed camera and Schlieren imaging, scientists from RMIT University captured incredible footage of the jet bursting forth from a pressurized plastic soda bottle. The shapes that emerge are called “shock diamonds,” which occur due to pressure differences between exhaust and the surrounding air.

After wowing us with his Fallout-inspired Red Rocket, metal artist Engineer BrunS is back with an even more challenging build, a big bronze rocketship. Watching the precision-milled components fit together so perfectly is wonderfully satisfying. If you’ve got 1500 bucks to spare, you can even own this masterpiece

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.

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.

This cast aluminum wall clock is perfect for anyone who loves space, rockets, or classic sci-fi. The pointy metal rocketship looks like it’s straight out of an H.G. Wells story. It features an analog dial with brass details, and can be hung at any angle thanks to a rotating hanger on the back. It measures 17″ long from tip to tail.

While these wooden nightlights are designed for a space-themed kid’s room or nursery, we think they’d look great on any desk, dresser, or bedside table. Artist Sara Collet Watson sells these and many other cool nightlights in her Etsy shop. Sold with a curved outer skin, or with an open skeletal structure.

The Ohio State Marching Band sure knows how to put on a show. To celebrate 50 years since humans first landed on the Moon, they marched in formations inspired by the great space race of the 1950s and 1960s, and even recreated the Apollo 11 launch with help from a few fire extinguishers.

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.

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.

LEGO Ideas members Valerie Roche and Matthew Nolan’s SpaceX Ultimate Collection consists of 1,583 pieces. It lets you build the Falcon 9, the Falcon Heavy and the launcher. It also comes with a cargo ship, the Dragon spacecraft and Musk’s Tesla Roadster.