Last Friday, my friends and I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to watch a rocket launch during Bassnectar’s set at the Okeechobee Music Festival. Just over 100 miles from the Kennedy Space Center, we had a stunning view of the entire launch. A rocket launch by itself is an amazing site, but combining it with hard EDM drops and beats made the experience even more exciting and unforgettable.
Falcon 9 took off in order to deliver supplies to the International Space Station. The rocket’s Dragon capsule contained tons of supplies and experiments. This much weight requires a lot of power to fly up into space, which is why Falcon 9 has multiple stages. The first stage has 9 engines that generates over 1.7 million pounds of thrust at sea level. After separation, the second stage engine kicks in and brings the Dragon capsule into the desired orbit. This single engine delivers 934 kN of thrust to move the capsule in the vacuum of space. Thrust from the engine is what allows rockets to move forward in a vacuum.
Overall, it was so cool that I got to watch this launch in such a fun setting with my amazing friends. It’s an experience that I will cherish forever.
Olivia's Blog! 
Wow, Olivia, that’s such an amazing experience! Okeechobee looked like a lot of fun but seeing the rocket launch while listening to Bassnectar’s set must have been phenomenal. Were you able to see multiple stages of the launch?
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Yes, I was able to see multiple stages. We saw the first stage separate, and then watched the rocket go up until it was no longer visible in the sky. So amazing!
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I loved getting to see the rocket launch with you last week! Your post made me even more appreciative of the once in a lifetime event that we got to experience together. I now know that the rocket was called Falcon 9 and launched with multiple stages. This explains the explosions we saw and has made me interested in learning more about rocket propulsion.
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That’s so crazy! I saw Bassnectar at EDC a few years ago and his set blew my mind. Seeing it combined with the rocket launch must have been insane. It’s also pretty amazing how much force is required to launch a rocket like that and how much time and money must have gone into that launch.
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Olivia – That’s a crazy experience! I was also there at the show and can confirm that it was a wild thing to see and probably one of the coolest things I will see for a long time. I remember seeing you at the show as well, what did you think of the first stage decoupling from the rest of the rocket? Personally, I thought it was bonkers!
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Alex- I freaked out when the first stage separated. It made me wonder where it was going to land. It had so many engines, it probably made a big splash into the ocean!
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