Skip to main content

Experience the awesome power of a rocket launch with this close-up 360 video

Of course, if you were to physically place yourself close to a rocket launch, there’d be nothing left of you once the dust cleared.

A new 360-degree video, however, offers the most realistic experience yet for what it might be like to stand just a few steps from the awesome power of those fiery rocket engines.

Recommended Videos

The lift-off of the 22-story Delta IV rocket was filmed at California’s Vandenberg Airforce Base from where United Launch Alliance (ULA) launches a variety of missions into space, usually concerning national security, exploration, and commercial ventures.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Viewable on a virtual reality headset, the video, shot earlier this year, lets you explore the scene in all directions as a narrator talks you through the moments before the rocket engines ignite.

“No human being has ever experienced a rocket launch from these vantage points,” the narrator teases prior to lift-off.

With 1.5 million pounds of thrust, the Delta IV lifts off the pad, taking a National Reconnaissance Office payload – likely a spy satellite – into orbit. Not surprisingly, the entire scene starts to shake, so mighty is the power of the engines. The video offers three different views of the launch, each one ending with you being blasted with debris and steam, though fortunately you’ll live to tell the tale.

The ULA showed off the video at this week’s space industry symposium in Colorado Springs, and tweeted a photo (above) of Colorado governor John Hickenlooper using a VR headset for the full experience. Click here for instructions on how to view the 360-video on a VR headset.

Of course, you can also watch it on a tablet or smartphone, or even on your PC, using the mouse to drag the picture around to explore the entirety of your surroundings.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
AMD flagship GPUs to make a comeback with RDNA successor
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX hovers over a raging fire.

A recent leak on the Chiphell forums has revealed AMD's ambitious plans for its upcoming CPU and GPU architectures. According to a post by forum member zhangzhonghao, AMD is preparing to utilize TSMC’s cutting-edge N3E process node for its next-generation Radeon GPUs and potentially for some of its future CPUs.

The leak highlights the development of GPUs based on the new UDNA architecture, which will succeed the current RDNA. These GPUs are expected to include a flagship model capable of competing with Nvidia’s top-tier GeForce RTX cards, addressing the lack of a high-end option in AMD’s current RDNA 4 lineup.

Read more
Intel’s Arc B570 puts up an impressive fight against the RTX 4060
Fans on the Intel Arc B570.

Intel just released one of the best graphics cards you can buy -- the Arc B570. As you can read in my Intel Arc B570 review, it delivers solid gaming performance at 1080p, and at a price we haven't seen in years. But it faces some stiff competition from Nvidia in the form of the RTX 4060.

I put the two budget GPUs on the test bench to see how they hold up in a variety of games, and I'll walk you through the results I gathered. Although both cards are excellent options under $300, Intel's new Arc B570 is hard to argue with considering how much less expensive it is than the Nvidia competition.
Specs and pricing

Read more
Samsung’s 27-inch 5K QD-OLED display is the future of gaming
Odyssey OLED G6

Many tech brands are developing next-generation innovations for upcoming products, giving the industry just a taste of what can be expected in the future.

Samsung is one brand leading the charge, as its Samsung Display sector is a primary supplier for display panels throughout the industry. It recently showcased several upcoming technologies, including a 27-inch 5K QD-OLED display. FlatPanelsHD spoke with Samsung Display at CES 2025, where the publication received a private demo of the next generation QD-OLED monitors with a 220 PPI (pixels per inch) pixel density.

Read more