I saw this video about 6 months back and I was really impressed. The most interesting part to me is after the rocket clears the base… very surreal. As a side note, the Discovery channel is beginning a special this Sunday about the US space program called “When We Left The Earth”. I expect this video to be a part of it.

A few facts about this video:

• The stuff falling from the rocket is ice. The Saturn engines burned liquid hydrogen and oxygen, which is VERY cold.
• The engines generate a strong vacuum, which is why the ice and smoke are initially sucked down into the opening in the launch pad base.
• The short section of dark exhaust coming out of the nozzles (right before the exhaust fire gets bright) is due to the cool liquid hydrogen that is used to cool the nozzles.

(requires Adobe Flash plugin… click HERE to watch it on YouTube)