Stunning GoPro Rocket Launch Will Take You To Dizzying New Heights

Forget sticking a GoPro on your bike helmet -- cameras on a rocket are where it's really at.

This footage just uploaded to YouTube by GoPro shows last November's launch of UP Aerospace’s 10th SpaceLoft rocket launch, a mission for NASA to deploy the Maraia Earth Return Capsule.

The footage is so clear -- and so stunning -- that at times it looks like animation:

The rocket hit speeds of mach 5.5 (3,800 mph) and reached an altitude of 396,000 feet.

"The new payload deployment capability from UP Aerospace was successfully demonstrated, opening the opportunity for future entry, descent and landing technologies to be tested and matured under Flight Opportunities," Paul De Leon, NASA Flight Opportunities Program campaign manager, said in a news release at the time.

The agency said Maraia is expected to become "an inexpensive, autonomous International Space Station-based vehicle to provide on-demand return of small scientific and engineering payloads, or function as an ISS-deployed entry technology test bed."

The footage was first posted in separate clips last year on UP Aerospace's YouTube page.

(h/t Digg)