Electron Stage Separation

First and second stage separation of Rocket Lab's Electron launch vehicle during the Return to Sender mission on November 20th, 2020.

[@vulture4117]

You people really need to share more footage like this

[@warrenayres200]

Honestly

[@JoeBlac]

What do you mean "you people"?!

[@WpGaming1]

@@JoeBlac rocket lab? idiot lol

[@anthony_horton]

This is probably the first time they've had footage like this to share, given that this was the first launch where they got the booster back. The quality & quantity of footage they can downlink live from the rocket in flight is limited, this was probably retrieved from the cameras in the booster after they recovered the booster. That probably means there will plenty more of this sort of thing from now on.

[@Aaron_b_c]

@@WpGaming1 whoosh

[@weschilton]

OK, that was AWESOME

[@morganchapman3308]

Fully. Best thing I seen on KZbin in a while

[@corsel6911]

That was very awesome.

[@andyoli75]

I kinda want a rocket to do that to me.

[@bn1__]

Yeah, I think it’s even better than most of spacex’s views of stage sep

[@karamerspacetv9110]

Yes

[@thejesuschrist]

That is the most awesome thing I've seen like ever

[@techpilot1261]

And you've seen quite some things!

[@vulture4117]

Jesus Christ really seems to be interested in space. I've seen his comments on many, many space videos in the past few years

[@afallingtree9114]

good ol' kiwi ingenuity

[@alecgriffiths790]

@@vulture4117 Well he is from heaven after all.

[@changavila]

Holy shit!

[@rogue6]

Holy crap, guys. High resolution, high frame rate, good lighting, a camera that pans up on time........ AND SOUND!?!? You just ticked every box right out of the gate! Bravo!

[@aimanazman4649]

okay...?

[@robertbackhaus8911]

Well, the panning would have been done in post - this would be a fixed fisheye camera, a go-pro or similar, and once they got it back, zoomed, panned and distorted the footage to produce this video. They would also have adjusted the brightness levels, too. But, yeah, doesn't matter how they did it, this is a great video. Just getting the camera (an the rocket it was attached to) back is a great achievement.

[@mechanicalrocketeer4900]

SpaceX and NASA have a lot to learn from the quality of this footage

[@mechanicalrocketeer4900]

@@robertbackhaus8911 exactly they most likely A.I programmed to make it 4K

[@eve_avery]

@@mechanicalrocketeer4900 Espec. NASA, holy crap!

[@nikmathews555]

Some of the most amazing rocketry footage I have ever seen. Unbelievable...

[@KCJbomberFTW]

Did you not watch any falcon heavy launches?

[@sonb0t]

@@KCJbomberFTW mans literally just said **some** please examine the comment before replying

[@AfzalKhanMohd]

@@KCJbomberFTW some*

[@KCJbomberFTW]

And Squirrels are “some” of the longest living land mammals

[@undercoverboss543]

@@sonb0t alright british nigerian prince

[@speeddemon1092]

Quite a bit more noise than what I was expecting. Upper stage takes off like a bat out of hell once it lights, too.

[@Digimer]

I guess the exhaust gas gave the medium for the sound waves to reach the camera.

[@timgleason2527]

Probably the vibrations in the metal make some sound too

[@adityarajsrivastava6580]

It would be metal I guess since all the air would have escaped.

[@BrokenLifeCycle]

Think of it like this: it's like blowing into your microphone.

[@Imbeachedwhale]

@@adityarajsrivastava6580 Burning rocket fuel creates exhaust gases, which can carry sound if sufficiently dense (such as near the nozzle just after ignition).

[@rlaxton666]

Such a clean and beautiful inter-stage and then BOOM, covered in soot.

[@thomas127]

Haha I needed the 20th time watching to notice this... that's insane!

[@consmos]

Seems like such a shame, it's so damn purty....

[@HunterKutz]

I love how you can see the green springs pop out to separate the upper stage.

[@Markle2k]

Yeah. Everybody else is wowing at the sound and the acceleration after 2nd stage ignition and I'm stepping frame-by-frame through the video watching how they really do the stage separation push.

[@dflyfpv8765]

@@Markle2k i wonder how do the many springs apply the same force so it doesn't push the upper stage out of vector.

[@gasdive]

@@Markle2k same!

[@Markle2k]

@@dflyfpv8765 Did you notice the rods that the second stage rides on while being pushed?

[@dflyfpv8765]

@@Markle2k yes i did, i know from experience that you have to apply pressure with same strength on every rod to avoid the part being pushed away from spinning, but in vacuum and micro gravity it does seem to work better than down on earth.

[@InventorZahran]

Scott Manley will probably have something interesting to say about this...

[@faceplants2]

Follow him on Twitter, he already did.

[@jm56585]

“Hullo its Scott Manley here, so yesterday I saw a video from Rocketlab lighting the 2nd stage engine...”

[@AlexSvanArt]

@@jm56585 and I am reading this in my head with his accent... :-)

[@ujjawalsharma1489]

@@AlexSvanArt me too

[@flyingfox3137]

This might be his definition of porn.....😄🌎🌗

[@dvasymmetry9696]

This is the coolest video in several months from the space crowd... Keep up the great work! Go Electron! Can't wait for the US launch to happen...

[@LargeSleeves]

I have watched this on repeat for like half an hour. It’s so cool!

[@colormaker5070]

I set the playback to .25. I watched 10 times in slow motion. We need more videos like this great job.

[@paratrooperchad]

I have always wondered what it would be like to be at the business end of a rocket motor when it fired... THANKS! That is simply friggin awesome!

[@ryanrising2237]

"loud," apparently. I probably should have seen that coming. And I agree, it is wonderful to see this!

[@faceplants2]

Check out footage of static fire tests of rocket engines on land. The super heavy booster for Starship with its 30 plus Raptor engines will be so loud that it could prove injurious or even lethal a couple miles away.

[@aidanmatthewgalea7761]

imagine if a dragon took viagra and steroids while high on glue and wielding the super sledge and you'd know the full power of even a low level rocket

[@ValleyRC]

Outside of the obvious SpaceX, this is some of the coolest footage I've seen since apollo era 16mm stuff!

[@starshipmechanic]

oh boy, have I got a treat for you then, look up 65mm Apollo footage, remember because of film, the past was in HD. the IMAX Apollo 11 documentary a year back used it and it was awesome

[@tomvesely4008]

This is better. The sound here makes it.

[@RicardoNunoSilva]

@@starshipmechanic Many thanks for mentioning the "Apollo 11" doc from Todd Douglas Miller. *It's really outstanding!!!* Just saw the trailer and now I've got to see the full movie! kzbin.info/www/bejne/gqTNhpSLocplsLs

[@starshipmechanic]

@@RicardoNunoSilva I saw it in IMAX and it blew me away in the theater, it was amazing footage, Scott Manley does a good video on where some of the footage came from too

[@RicardoNunoSilva]

@@starshipmechanic I managed to see "Apollo 11" yesterday and it's even better than I expected. Besides the *outstanding 65mm panoramic footage,* there are many clips of unreleased footage, and the narrative sequence is a thrill to watch. Many thanks again for bringing this up.

[@manofsan]

This is the first time I've ever actually heard the sound of a stage separation. We never get to hear that on anybody else's launches (SpaceX, ULA, NASA, Roskosmos, ESA, JAXA, etc) It sounds really awesome!

[@AstronomicalYT]

That boom when the rocket turns on is such a beautiful noise

[@satyam0303]

I love how the first and second stages just soar through so fast! Very good thrust to mass ratio :)

[@leoncorkidi8342]

I love how the second stage has to maneuver on ignition to keeps its direction in check. Beautiful stuff.

[@MatteoTN]

I'm still speachless after 2 hours.

[@trecoolable]

If you notice, every nice and shiny metal and carbon fibre surface gets dark and sooty after second stage engine light. The writing in sharpie apparently doesn't let the soot stick as you can still see the writing against the soot background. All this in a matter of milliseconds. I wonder if it could cook the Thanksgiving turkey in that time?

[@ryanrising2237]

Unfortunately for your meal, the heat won't have the time it needs to reach the centre of the turkey even if it were delivering enough to cook it. And any use of kerolox engines to cook food probably won't taste very good anyway. That being said, thanks for pointing out how sooty it gets! The first couple times I watched this I was so captivated by the sound I didn't think to compare the surfaces.

[@shirro5]

I clicked away from a live SpaceX launch to watch this.

[@Alessandro-B]

Same here.

[@timgleason2527]

We all did 😂

[@vertex3243]

i saw that launch i video taped and on my channel

[@ClearVod]

I.didnt

[@wayneschenk5512]

More of that to come I think.

[@matrix3d270]

That looks sweet. This will be a treat for space enthusiasts.

[@dustinfisher5463]

I love these engineering cameras. What a time to be alive.

[@timothyward6644]

I am almost positive I am 10,000 of these of these views. I cannot stop watching this. Amazing job Rocket Lab.

[@alexkarout1586]

Rest in Peace Gnome Chomsky

[@ScrapTechTips]

He is now at peace. His mission accomplished. All achievements had

[@Rangifulla]

all gnomes should be banished from Earth in such a fashion

[@ryanlotgd]

who would of thought a garden gnome would get more time in space than starliner in 2020

[@xerosfs]

Wait he died?

[@ryanlotgd]

@@xerosfs burned up on reentry with the kick stage

[@bombyhead]

0:10 that clicking sound when it separated was so satisfying

[@suppenmensch123]

so fucking true

[@JackABeyer]

Insanely great.

[@audio7887]

Hey! it's THE Jack Beyer!

[@Lukem_Gaming]

The sound of springs at 0:09 is so incredibly satisfying.

[@apollo5668]

thats not springs

[@pascalcalixte1583]

That was epic. Never seen anything like that. Best stage separation ever easily.

[@stephenr7424]

Instant SOOT on the inside of that clean first stage! Such a cool shot!!

[@felreymiguel5734]

The part where stage 2 fired up it's engine was just so cool!

[@samarthbarshi1916]

Hats off to the cameraman. Respect++

[@jebediahmccoy6454]

0:12 the last thing my toilet sees as I drop a bomb from the standing position

[@Saukko31]

Excuse me, I have to pick up my jaw from the floor. That was incredible!

[@zett5729]

Rewatch that vid like 15 times straight. My god is that a beautiful video and the sound is just everything I ever asked for. Ps: really enjoyed to see how the rocket itself is compressed under is own G-Forces in the beginning.

[@mikerudin8261]

That's fantastic! I love the way the second stage is all held together by duct tape.

[@LSF17]

lol

[@sikaheimo]

Wow! This is some amazing footage! Got goosebumps the moment the 2nd stage lit!

[@cygnusaerospace8254]

Big thanks to the cameraman for sitting inside the rocket during the flight.

[@thisismyalias]

You hoped for more likes didn’t you? :/

[@meg7088]

Wow! that is beautiful ⚛️ "Bye Mr Chompski" enjoy the blast while it last 🚀

[@heythere135]

Wow... Best stage separation footage of a newer rocket I've seen yet. So much detail, and the sound of the second stage ignition is incredible!

[@bassboylowg]

Sounds like the Greybeards summoning the Dragonborn. Awesome.

[@liamd6238]

Wooo that's sick! We need more footy!

[@travelinghermit]

Hands down the most amazing stage separation video since the Apollo program. Congrats Rocket Lab!!!

[@StereoSpace]

That was very cool. Fascinated by the sequence of the spring-loaded ejector pins pushing the second stage away, then the engine firing. Loved it.

[@techandtrains101]

Rocket Lab are just showing off at this point

[@ryanrising2237]

I'd like to see more showing off, please

[@excalibur3390]

the stage sep looks so much like a movie. the second stage seperates, its quiet for a few seconds and then boom

[@mjoao4635]

One of the best seconds of the past year in this kind of thing......rocket lab congratulations bigess

[@TheMightyJoolz]

The first stage transition from spotless clean to blasted with deposits 👍 Took a few playbacks to really appreciate the quality. Awesome job.

[@GlennLittleford]

That rocket firing covered everything in the first stage with a carbon film. Shiny, boom, not so shiny.

[@RobertWallhead]

Incredible! I want this to be my morning alarm sound.

[@johnmichaelb1]

The SOUND. IT'S EPIC

[@jacksonsneed7689]

That was AMAZING!!!!!!! CAN'T . . STOP . . . HITTING . . . . REPLAY!! I could put this on a loop!! BTW, congrats on the first stage recovery y'all!! Keep up the amazing work!

[@oldcet5277]

yo, huge props to the cameraman for risking his life to get this shot for us

[@bastion9514]

This was flippin' amazing footage - holy smokes! you guys'n'gals Rock

[@MrChuckynator]

f#n unbelievable

[@hiyathea]

Do you mean: guysngalsnenbypals?

[@dasluder]

Extraordinary footage, love how you can see the MECO right before staging!

[@morecowbell2611]

Amazing footage. Mad props for the recent achievements! Keep it up Rocket Lab

[@F-Man]

Woah - never expected to *hear* all of that!

[@andrewferree8472]

Alright, I want to know who the people are that downvoted this and I want to know what happened to them as a child. Because I don’t see how anyone could not love this.

[@NoHandleToSpeakOf]

YT skews count of views, likes and dislikes in order to thwart cheating.

[@NoHandleToSpeakOf]

@Mudkip909 there are some who wish to buy views, likes and subs. Technically YT owes you nothing, so...

[@WimsicleStranger]

@@NoHandleToSpeakOf Not technically true, people sign a legally binding contract in order to gain monetization on videos.

[@astrotylxr4149]

holy hell. the sounds, the angle. it’s orgasmic, great work :) !

[@gasdive]

I remember how amazed I was by the escape pod separation in the first Star Wars. This was so much better.

[@rexthethoughtfult-rex4337]

Bye bye upper stag-WHHHHOOOOOOOSSSSSHHHHHHHHH

[@larscd2002]

0:10 notice how everything turns black by the soot of the second stage engine

[@Aceb_k]

Those pumps are so fast at spinning up and firing wow, that camera view is amazing😍

[@chrishoesel]

What an amazing sequence. Thank you for this. That second stage really yeeted itself out, ready to work.

[@mechanicalrocketeer4900]

Hey SpaceX and NASA, Rocket Lab called and they want to show you how video quality is supposed to be done.🤣🤣🤣👍👍👍❤️❤️❤️

[@LSF17]

SpaceX has incredible quality

[@FallenLight0]

In a while viewers will be like: meeh it's not even 4K.

[@JayGillyon]

That was one nugget of awesomeness I desperately needed. Thank you 👍

[@GamerBoyRobby]

WOW. Idk what, but something about that was way more exiting than I was expecting

[@AirCommandRockets]

How Amazing is that! ... I wonder how they got that footage back? .... Oh yeah ... parachutes :) Interesting how there is just enough exhaust gas hitting the microphone to make sound.

[@BlackGryph0n]

No fricken WAY! This could be a scene from a Marvel movie! 😍🚀

[@dakotamahlau-heinert3529]

Lol I see you again.

[@deltaiii3158]

Your brain is rotted from watching too much child movies bro. If this things reminds you a marvel movie then you need to grow up

[@ChevTecGroup]

I can't stop watching this. The big green springs ejecting the first stage, then the awesome ignition of the second and seeing it speed away! Its all just awesome

[@peterb9038]

This is incredible, thank you Rocket Lab. You have watch this again at 0.25 speed, at about 7 seconds the upper stage slightly deforms making a noise, the sounds are like music at 0.25 when the motor ignites.

[@thomas.02]

wonder what the energy was to excite the electron to a higher stage

[@Readyplayer11]

Was this footage recovered from the booster or was it streamed back down before it hit air?

[@THEDARKILLERS46]

That's a really good question, I guess first option though, or they could have shown it in the webcast.

[@udracula9186]

there was a recovery, you can see the recovery from the ocean on @rocketlab Twitter

[@voongnz]

I doubt they would use precious bandwidth to stream in 1080. More likely onboard recording.

[@Zachhhx]

Footage recovered, just because it's too high quality for a stream imo

[@CountArtha]

I'm sure they recovered it with the stage in a waterproof pod. The footage is way too good to have gone over the air.

[@CHRIS-jq1jj]

i can watch this over and over and over and over again

[@paucolome4298]

Most beautiful space video since the perseverance landing, you guys are insane

[@aaronncollier96]

This might be the coolest bit of rocket footage I've ever seen.

[@gonun69]

It's awesome yes, but I think the various Saturn 1B or Saturn 5 interstage videos where you can see the camera itself geting ejected for recovery still are a bit cooler.

[@faceplants2]

Stage separation occurred at about 240,000 ft altitude and there is not much air up there. All the sound you are hearing is the exhaust from the second stage Rutherford engine directly impinging upon the first stage. (Credit: Scott Manley) If you're new to watching rocket launches, check out Tim Dodd the Everyday Astronaut and Scott Manley on Twitter and KZbin. Everyday astronaut live streams just about every launch from SpaceX, rocket lab, ULA and several other launch providers. You will learn a ton.

[@a10warthog4]

Before the engine start the sound went through the fuselage

[@ImranSahir1]

One of the coolest rocket videos EVER. Saw this over at Twitter a few days ago as well. Please share more.

[@MoonWeasel23]

This is beautiful. Thank you for uploading.

[@desmond-hawkins]

Wow! Absolutely incredible footage. Could someone explain what caused the deformation at 00:06 or so?

[@DugganSean]

Going to guess main engine cut off

[@desmond-hawkins]

@@DugganSean Yes the main engine cuts off before stage separation, and how does that make all this metal bend upward?

[@AdmiralBob]

@@desmond-hawkins The upward state is where the metal would rather be. Where it is when the footage starts is basically lagging behind the accelerating of the rocket under thrust. Stomp on the accelerator in your car and your head moves back.

[@desmond-hawkins]

@@AdmiralBob Yeah, that's not at all what's happening here. It's in one place, then gets sucked upward, and *then* stage separation happens. This has nothing to do with acceleration, there's clearly a pressure differential. You can hear gas venting at the same time, it's likely due to the upper stage getting exposed to the vacuum. Several people on Twitter noted the same thing.

[@ryanrising2237]

@@desmond-hawkins Acceleration can certainly cause that sort of thing. You know how sheet metal bends down when you're holding up against gravity? Take away the gravity, and the bend would disappear too. MECO happens a few seconds before stage sep, and you can hear the sounds of the pumps spinning down right when the deformation you're talking about happens, so there's definitely some time that material is in zero-g. You may yet be right and it does have something to do with the venting sound, but I don't think you should dismiss the capability of acceleration to do this out of hand.

[@witext]

Spacex should do the same and release like 4K footage from the landings

[@dylanm.3692]

That's really hard to do when they lose signal strength during the landing.

[@donjones4719]

Yes! They must have it, and it would be so easy to do.

[@ryanrising2237]

@@dylanm.3692 Sure it's hard to see live, but surely they have onboard storage for those cameras. They could upload that footage.

[@Zachhhx]

That would be great. They do show this stage separation view on the stream, by the way. At least, for Starlink I know they do.

[@donjones4719]

@@Zachhhx Yes, the stage separation is shown on every F9 launch, not just Starlink ones. Well, not for some NRO national security launches.

[@belfonzus]

Holy Headphones Batman! I was not prepared for that.

[@tiberbrutus2093]

Really gives you an appreciation of just how far our species has gone. From inventing the wheel to this, really cool stuff!

[@angelofdeath3462]

OmG iTs StAgEd ThEiRs No SoUnD iN sPaCe

[@mastershooter64]

flat earthers be like

[@appleyt6757]

Hahahahaa

[@trevorbaines5066]

So you hear the next stage pull away because sound travels through the plume and the mic is in the plume, right? Is it built into the camera or did you use a separate mic, if so what mic? Just having any sound at all makes the awesome images more awesome!

[@user-pb4hh1jk3f]

There would be sound within the exhaust gases, which interact with both the microphone and the structure of the vehicle which also carries sound

[@dev0884]

Trevor, they most likely just used a gopro with a waterproof case

[@TheMightyJoolz]

Epic camera quality! A "crisp clear" cut above the rest well done team Rocket Lab good stuff..

[@rockets9488]

WOW, awesome sep footage to go with a fantastic flight. Good job Rocket Lab!

[@bruhmoment5304]

Yeah cool but is the cameraman ok?

[@samu_cornia9991]

He's recovering

[@oren2000]

@@samu_cornia9991 yeah

[@valeryvdovin2972]

Wow, that’s extremely beautiful, thank you. I would like to see some more video like this, great job, guys.

[@nicholasrancourt4540]

thats awesome footage, thanks so much for this

[@pratikdedhia]

The Sound made this video 100x more awesome

[@travsudz4544]

This is absolutely incredibly aw inspiring. I would not blame anyone for thinking this is CGI. I am truly amazed it's real.

[@FarrFromPerfect]

Ka Pai! Super happy for you guys - this is super clean!

[@cwjarvis3]

Absolutely Fantastic video guys! Thank you very much! That is Awesome.

[@RedStacheAZ]

You guys are doing the audio the right way. Love it

[@trekkingreds4785]

You guys nailed it using some badass springs

[@etbadaboum]

That's a beautiful, high quality footage.

[@thomaseubank1503]

That sheet metal bloating out was what raised my eyebrows!

[@teveszaki]

SpaceX's fairing separation video was really cool, now this, this is amazing. Keep it coming!