Categories: esaLaunches

If You Could Ride on the Outside of a Rocket, Here’s Your View While Blasting Into Space

Imagine clinging on to the side of a rocket, somehow able to hang on despite the high speeds and diminishing oxygen. Looking down, this is what you’ll see — the view in the video above. This incredible sequence shows Sentinel-1a during its initial climb to orbit last week and, if you wait long enough, you can even see the separation of the third stage.

“Arianespace’s successful Soyuz Flight VS07 — which deployed Sentinel-1A to Sun-synchronous orbit — gave the world a front-row seat in space,” the company stated on YouTube. “Cameras mounted on the Soyuz’ Fregat upper stage captured the spectacular footage … as Sentinel-1A was separated at approximately 700 km [434 miles] above the Earth to commence its life in orbit.”

Sentinel-1a is the first of a series of environmental monitoring satellites overseen by the European Space Agency, a set that promises views of the Earth in high-definition.

Read more about the mission here. You can also see more video views of Sentinel-1a in this story.

Elizabeth Howell

Elizabeth Howell is the senior writer at Universe Today. She also works for Space.com, Space Exploration Network, the NASA Lunar Science Institute, NASA Astrobiology Magazine and LiveScience, among others. Career highlights include watching three shuttle launches, and going on a two-week simulated Mars expedition in rural Utah. You can follow her on Twitter @howellspace or contact her at her website.

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