Stunning footage captures what a rocket launch looks like from space

We are all aware of the grand spectacle of what a space shuttle launch from Earth looks like but what does it look like from the stars above?

Well, there is no need to wonder any longer as viral timelapse footage from the International Space Station shows just what the spectacle looks like from the facility floating above our heads.

The footage, which was actually shot by European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst back in November 2018, shows the Russian Progress MS-10 cargo spacecraft blasting off into the atmosphere from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The clip resurfaced a few days ago on Twitter and has already been viewed more than 500,000 times and it's safe to say that people are amazed.

The fact that this is two years old, shows how easily amazing things can go unnoticed on social media but it should be said that the footage has more than one million views on the original YouTube video.

On the original European Space Agency page for the video, the ESA writes:

The spacecraft was launched atop a Soyuz rocket with 2564 kg of cargo and supplies. Flying at 28 800 km/h, 400 km high, the International Space Station requires regular supplies from Earth such as this Progress launch.

Spacecraft are launched after the Space Station flies overhead so they catch up with the orbital outpost to dock, in this case two days later on 18 November 2018.

In addition, the space agency confirms that the video is actually made up of a series of images taken at regular intervals on a camera on the European-built Cupola module. A various stages in the video you can see the craft, which delivered food, fuel and supplies, separate from the rocket booster, the core stage burn up in the atmosphere as it returns to Earth and it entering orbit before meeting up with the ISS.