Massive Rocket Purposefully Lighting Base On Fire Before Launch Provides Stunning Visuals

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The United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Delta IV Heavy successfully lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida early morning today. The Delta IV Heavy is one of the most powerful rockets in the U.S., coming second only to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in terms of actual payload weight launched into space. It was the penultimate launch of the tri-booster rocket, one of the few whose second stage features a unique engine nozzle that extends after the first and second stages have separated.

The mission was for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), a government agency that operates classified satellites for a variety of uses, such as reconnaissance and life support. As is typical with NRO launches, in order to protect the details of a satellite's orbit, the feed was cut off soon after the second stage started its journey.

Like NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), the Delta IV Heavy also uses liquid hydrogen as its fuel due to its superior characteristics. However, due to its low mass, hydrogen is also quite tricky to use and for safety reasons, ULA burns off the excess fuel around the rocket prior to liftoff for each mission. This gives the Delta IV Heavy the unique distinction of lighting a fire around its base at liftoff - an occurrence that would otherwise raise eyebrows by quite a bit.

Due to the rocket's massive size, it generates 2.1 million pounds of thrust, making it the third most powerful operational rocket in terms of thrust generated. Regarding payload, the rocket is rated to carry as much as roughly 29 tons to low Earth orbit (LEO),