SpaceX has offered it most dramatic view yet of a space vehicle’s engine test, placing a camera directly above the blast.
Rocket builders need to conduct multiple static fire tests of their boosters before they can send them into space for the first time.
That means securing the vehicle to the ground before firing up one or more of its engines for anywhere between seconds and several minutes.
SpaceX has been testing the engines on its next-generation Starship spacecraft that will sit atop the mighty Super Heavy rocket when it takes its first orbital flight in the coming months.
While most videos of engine tests show the vehicle from the side, SpaceX decided to do things a little differently this time around by placing a camera directly above the Starship when it fired a single engine for about six seconds at its Starbase facility in Texas on Thursday.
