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third stage

third stage

2003 Jul 7: Delta II Launch of "Opportunity" Rover to Mars

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This Delta II rocket, launched at night from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carried two RocketCam systems, one looking aft and one looking forward, both on the second stage. The forward-looking camera was the first to capture the firing of the Delta II solid rocket motor kick stage (third stage) on video. Selected video frames show the kick stage exhaust plume approaching the camera and then sweeping over the entire Delta II second stage, ruffling the thermal blankets wrapped around the stage. Note in the aft-looking video the "hole" in the exhaust plume cause by the "shadow" of the second stage.