Slow-Motion Apollo 11 Launch Video Reveals Ice Shards, Flames

To us space geeks, each and every NASA space shuttle launch is breathtaking--it is exhilarating, exciting, and, even, unnerving to hear the low rumble of the rockets, watch the red glow of the rocket boosters spread upward, and then see the elegant spacecraft, surprising in its grace, leave Earth among billowing clouds of smoke.

We've got good news, NASA aficionados: A video of the Apollo 11 blasting off on July 16, 1969 offers a new, not-to-be-missed perspective on a spacecraft's takeoff.

A 16mm camera affixed near the base of th engines captured intricate and informative details of the launch.

The beautifully narrated video slows the launch footage to show 30 seconds worth of takeoff in around 8 minutes.

The video captures the mixing of kerosene and liquid oxygen below the Saturn V rocket; the mixture billowing out, then being "sucked back" under the rocket; shards of ice falling off of the craft; and much more.

Apollo 11 Saturn V Launch (HD) Camera E-8 from Mark Gray on Vimeo.