Stunning Original Drawing of the Latest SpaceX Launch

Here’s something you don’t see much anymore: an original pencil drawing of a launch. This drawing by Wendy Clark from the UK is reminiscent of the pre-spaceflight days, before we had actual images of launches, and just our dreams of spaceflight. This isn’t the first time Clark has drawn a launch (here’s an article we posted of her drawings of the MAVEN launch and the final space shuttle launch) but this one is almost a contrast in themes: the latest technology in launches from the upstart SpaceX team vs. an old-school, old fashioned, by-hand product.

For this drawing, she reiterated what she told us previously: “Don’t let anyone tell you drawing a rocket is easy!” Clark said on Flickr. “The Strongback was a complete dog of an object to draw, such a maze of engineering.”

She also captured the ‘dirty’ side of launches: “Dust and gravel being thrown up everywhere, and the lovely Falcon 9 rocket was a little grubby on lift-off and I’ve tried to reflect that in the drawing,” she said.

Thanks to Wendy Clark for sharing her work on Universe Today’s Flickr site. See more of her drawings and photography on her own Flickr page.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/

Recent Posts

There’s a Way to Make Ringworlds and Dyson Spheres Stable

The idea of Dyson Sphere’s has been around for decades. When Freeman Dyson explored the…

10 hours ago

Water Arrived in the Final Stages of Earth's Formation

Roughly 4.6 billion years ago, the Sun was born from the gas and dust of…

16 hours ago

An Amazing JWST Image of a Protostar

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been giving us a fabulous new view on…

19 hours ago

There Could Be a Supermassive Black Hole in the Large Magellanic Cloud Hurling Stars at the Milky Way

Hypervelocity stars (HVSs) were first theorized to exist in the late 1980s. In 2005, the…

21 hours ago

Uranus’ Moon Ariel has Deep Gashes, Could Reveal its Interior

We've only gotten one close-up view of Uranus and its moons, and it happened decades…

1 day ago

A Recent Impact on Mars Shook the Planet to Its Mantle

New research suggests an impact recently rattled Mars deeper than thought. HiRISE images a recent…

1 day ago