On February 6, 2018, SpaceX launched their Falcon Heavy Rocket from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. Pad 39A is the same launching pad used by the Apollo program to send astronauts to the moon.
Falcon Heavy is the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two and can lift into orbit nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 lb). Only the Saturn V moon rocket, last flown in 1973, delivered more payload to orbit.
My nephew who is a rocket engineer at NASA invited us to attend the launch. Armed with only an IPhone X, we were able to capture some photos and video of the launch and booster landing. Photos were taken at 10x zoom and video at 6x zoom.
Click the image below to watch the launch video. There are controls to adjust the size of the video and volume (to hear the crowd’s reaction and the rocket itself). At the 1:05 minute mark in the video you can begin to hear the sound of the rocket.
Click the image below to watch the booster rocket landing. At the beginning of the video, the boosters are falling from the sky on the left hand side of the frame. You can use the controls to expand the video and see it better. After the boosters land, you will hear two separate bursts of sounds – like firecrackers. Each burst corresponds to the sonic booms from each booster as it fell from the sky.
