THE BEST Rockets

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.

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.

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.