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Phil Klein / AP
A Boeing Delta 4 Heavy rocket, which may someday be used to send humans into space, rises from the launch pad during its first unmanned launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., Thursday Jan. 20.
This is a stunning picture of a rocket launch. Watching the video, below, it's hard to belive that, at nearly 2 million pounds of thrust, this Delta IV rocket still has only about a quarter of the 7.8 million pounds of thrust that the Space Shuttle has.
A Delta 4 Heavy rocket rises from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, sending a spy satellite into orbit.
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Jim, I saw that during lunch.
The exhaust plume was really large, so I ruled out airplane, but when the first stage went off and the second stage came on, the plume was practically nile, and it looked like a jet. I observed it going through some high cirrus clouds and it made the classic cone.
What fun, a launch at lunch, ahem. Ribbit.