Watch NASA’s Rocket Engine Fireplace Holiday Video, It’s Just Plain Awesome
The Artemis I Moon mission was the first integrated flight test of NASA’s Deep Space Exploration Systems -- the Orion spacecraft, Space Launcher System (SLS) rocket, with the upgraded Exploration Ground Systems at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The mission lasted a total of 25 days, 10 hours, and 53 minutes, while travelling a total of 1.4 million miles. The Orion spacecraft reached a staggering 24,581mph during re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on December 11, 2022.
NASA describes the fireplace video as “a stock fireplace illustration frames looping archival video of the blasting RS-25 engines that launched the Artemis I rocket to the Moon” on November 16, 2022. It added that the illustration also includes other items, such as the basket of firewood, and items created with AI, to craft the cozy environment around the fireplace itself.
Some may notice right away the two pictures, one to each side of the fireplace. One shows the archival image of the Orion capsule flying through space, while the other shows the Artemis logo. The audio in the video features the roar of the rocket engines at a low level, with the addition of the sounds of a crackling wood fire.
As NASA keenly points out, “8,8 million pounds of total thrust - and a couple glasses of eggnog - might just be enough to make your holidays merry.” Not to mention how toasty those SLS RS-25 rocket engines can get (as high as 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is hotter than the melting point of iron)!
