This sluggish movement Apollo 11 launch footage shot in 1969 nonetheless appears to be like completely unbelievable at the moment

It is a video we’ve truly featured earlier than, means again in 2014, but it surely seems to be making the rounds on social media once more and it’s effectively price a revisit. It was shot by NASA, clearly, and it’s footage of the Apollo 11 launch, shot on 16mm movie at 500 frames per second in 1969. Now, which may not look like lots in comparison with the loopy sluggish movement cameras out there at the moment, however 53 years in the past, that was fairly spectacular!

When shot at 500 frames per second and performed again at 30 frames per second turns that ~30-second real-time clip into an 8-minute and 22-second sequence that you just simply can’t take your eyes away from. The Saturn V rocket that launched Apollo 11 was a particularly highly effective Heavy Raise Automobile. It was the heaviest rocket ever to ever fly efficiently, weighing in at 6.2 million kilos absolutely loaded.

The footage was posted to Twitter by Jason Main of Lights within the Darkish, an internet site devoted to sharing wonderful views of the universe. And whereas this footage might need been somewhat nearer to house than a lot of the remainder of the universe, it definitely is wonderful.

This insane 500fps video footage reveals the liftoff of the Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket, powered by its 5 @AerojetRdyne F-1 engines, captured with a high-speed 16mm movie digicam on the launch pad at @NASAKennedy on July 16, 1969.
Video credit score: @NASA / Kennedy Area Middle https://t.co/EQa9htLOui

Jason solely performed a 30-minute phase of the slowed-down footage, however right here’s the entire thing in its full eight minutes and forty-two seconds glory, with your entire launch splendidly narrated to clarify what’s occurring as you’re watching it.

Certain, the flames from the rockets is perhaps a tad overexposed, however for footage that was shot over fifty years in the past, it’s fairly superior to see. And for these of you who’re curious, right here’s the common velocity model of that footage, performed again in real-time to see simply how a lot the above has been slowed down. The velocity at which the preliminary blast and smoke get pulled again into the exhaust at this velocity additionally actually reveals the unbelievable energy of the Saturn V rocket.

And if you wish to hear about how the entire thing labored, this 26-minute video from Fran Blanche (who’s cool and posts some wonderful electronics and engineering movies – you need to subscribe)  is a superb engineering deep-dive into the Saturn V and the F-1 engine that acquired it off the bottom. Seeing it damaged all the way down to this depth reveals you simply how complicated these rockets have been. Fairly wonderful contemplating they didn’t have the advantages of contemporary computer systems with its fancy CAD software program. Simply unbelievable.

I don’t find out about you, however I’d certain like to see The Gradual Mo Guys‘ modern-day tech tackle this problem with a SpaceX launch and a few Phantom cameras!