Camera gets Hit By SpaceX Superheavy/Starship Launch Plume

Here is the view from our Hoop 2 solar streaming in the last moments before this camera was destroyed on 4/20/23.

[EpicSpaceflight]

This is a recovered video from one of our Hoop 2 cameras. The camera was in pieces and the SD card was recovered.

[renkenbw]

Wow! You can easily see the moment the pad broke apart... The plume changes from mostly smoke, to clearly dirt, followed almost instantly with concrete. Amazing! The dirt cloud comes busting out right at 31 seconds into the video!

[johnmahnke]

Absolutely mental. That rocket blew apart reinforced concrete like it was styrofoam. It's actually pretty incredible Starship got as high as it did, considering the damage it surely must've taken at liftoff

[marzchart]

R.I.P. all the cameras. very good footage thank you.

[TheNitroG]

0:36 Half expected to see "Game Over" super imposed over the footage. That camera died a video game death in real life.

[algodoomarbleracing]

The pink is because the IR filter was gone.

[dhmsimons]

you can clearly see the concrete held up for 10 seconds. First dustcloud looks clean after engine start at 0:21. Then from 0:31 another type of dustcloud appears, full of darker material and rocks.

[leemarsh]

It’s amazing that those tall storage tanks didn’t get blown away.

[VanquishedAgain]

The more i see these videos the more i cant believe they just launched it like that, lol

[edwarddevlin]

This feels like the type of video that's going to get recommended to me in 14 years time

[ehenri]

the most powerful rocket taking off from the parking lot

[dragonslayer]

Must have taken some real guts to just stand there and record this without moving, nice job camera man 😹

[JS]

The sheer amount of unfathomable power is felt through this captivating video; Thank You for sharing! 🚀😃👍

[rraceddoom]

It's almost reminiscent of nuclear blast test footage from the 50's. Especially when the IR filer gets knocked off.

[lousanto]

The pad clearly was not designed for this type of launch vehicle.
NASA heavies like the STS, Saturn V, and SLS had elevated reinforced thick concrete pads where plumes were channeled into chambers, directing their outward firing. Furthermore, they use sound suppresion water systems to protect both the launch vehicle and the surrounding structure from acoustical shock waves to mitigate damage. This was learned mostly from the very early Saturn launches.
When I first saw the Starship launch pad, I thought there would be no way that pad would hold up, but considering the small platform and size it did and impressive job staying intact as much as it did!

[MrVelociraptor]

haha, with the colour change on impact and all the debris, that looks like footage from the nuclear explosion tests back in the 50s. That's some power there

Awesome footage!

[squirrelsinjacket]

Why did SpaceX put everything so close together? Seems reasonable that the launch pad should be placed further out from the critical infrastructure.

[shawnstangeland]

Stunning incompetence thinking a flat concrete surface would withstand this.

[MetaView]

That blast is insane. I am surprised the tanks are still standing.

[colinsoars]

When you watch this video you can see the moment that the concrete gave way. The cloud changes colour and there is suddenly debris in the cloud. Pretty cool stuff