Their dreams of a perfect view went up in smoke.
Their dreams of a perfect view went up in smoke.
Viewers have blasted NASA’s live coverage of the Artemis II rocket’s historic launch on Wednesday evening, with many claiming that the camera essentially missed liftoff, with others declaring that the best videos were shot from passing passenger planes.
The footage was filmed yesterday evening as Artemis II successfully ferried four astronauts — Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen, and Victor Glover — into Earth’s orbit from Florida’s Cape Canaveral for a ten-day mission that involves circumnavigating the moon.
If successful, this would mark our first lunar journey since the Apollo 17 touched down on our rocky satellite in 1972, as well as our deepest journey into space at over 250,000 miles.
But as the rocket lifted off ahead of this so-called space exploration renaissance, everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing — why can’t we see it?
“Waited years for this launch and the cameraman aimed at the smoke,” fumed one spectator on Reddit while decrying the alleged shoddy ignition footage. “How do you miss the entire rocket during a rocket launch??”
They chalked up the alleged gaffe to having a “$4 billion rocket” but “$4 camera work.”
“The whole production was craptastic,” lamented another disillusioned viewer while blasting the literal smoke screen. “Missed liftoff. Missed booster separation. Missed crew module separation.”
“Kept cutting to the unexplained black screen,” decried a third. “It had like orange clouds in the corner at one point.”
“Seriously, wtf was that,” vented one commenter. “Of everything, a basic animator could have created an awesome visual. My kids were so confused.”
In fact, some claimed that there was a massive gap in coverage between ignition and when the Artemis II took flight.
“ABC showed the engine ignition from under the rocket, then the screen went black for 30 seconds, then we got a picture of the rocket which was already about 400 feet up!” declared an incensed Redditor. “No live feed of the very best part! Lift off!”
The problems were apparently not limited to liftoff.
“They also showed the camera panning the crowd while the booster rockets separated (the only interesting thing that really happens after lift-off),” said one.
In fact the best footage of the historic moment arguably came courtesy Delta Airlines Flight 1784 that was en route from Costa Rica to Atlanta, Georgia when the 32-story rocket blasted off at NASA‘s Kennedy Space Center, the Sun reported.
“My cousin captured Artemis takeoff from his flight. So cool,” wrote Kendall baker in an X of Artemis II rising into the sky with blinding white flames erupting from its thrusters.
The clip has amassed over 1 million views with commenters claiming that the clip was the “the greatest thing on the internet today” and “better than the NASA videos.”
A second video, allegedly taken from another aircraft, showed the moon-bound spacecraft arcing across the sky, leaving a smokey rocket trail in its wake.
At the time of writing, the Artemis II is still in high orbit above our planet as the crew tests the systems and manually pilots the spacecraft.
The lunar voyage will take about three days, after which the crew will circle the moon, before utilizing Earth’s gravity to return home.
