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The Crew-12 Falcon 9 rocket photographed soon after launch on Feb. 13. (Image credit: NASA\/John Kraus)<\/p>\n
NASA has released a nebula-like view of the SpaceX\/NASA Crew-12 mission launching to the International Space Station atop a reusable Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Feb. 13.<\/p>\n
What is it?<\/p>\n SpaceX<\/a> Falcon 9 rockets have been known to create dramatic “jellyfish” plumes of exhaust when viewed from afar, as their nine Merlin engines burn a mix of liquid oxygen and kerosene to generate the thrust needed to punch through Earth<\/a>‘s dense atmosphere, resist the force of gravity and achieve orbit.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The image<\/a>, captured by photographer John Kraus<\/a>, provided a novel view looking almost directly up and into the rocket’s intense exhaust plume as it was shaped and backlit by the furious labors of the Merlin engines.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n Following its expulsion, the gas, vapor and soot<\/a> expanded rapidly into the surrounding atmosphere, forming complex patterns reminiscent of a blooming flower, or a nebula<\/a> formed in the wake of a supernova<\/a> explosion in the moment the photograph was taken.<\/p>\n The mission<\/p>\n NASA<\/a>‘s Crew-12 mission launched at 5:15 a.m. EST (1015 GMT) on Feb. 13, carrying NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway along with the European Space Agency<\/a>‘s Sochie Adenot and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev on a journey to the ISS<\/a>.<\/p>\n Their SpaceX Crew Dragon<\/a> spacecraft successfully rendezvoused and docked with the orbital station on Feb. 14, marking the start of the quartet’s eight-month stay in low-Earth orbit as part of Expedition 74.<\/p>\n The ISS had previously been operated by a skeleton crew of three \u2014 NASA’s Chris Williams and cosmonauts Sergei Mikaev and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov \u2014 following the Jan. 8 medical evacuation of four Crew-11 astronauts<\/a> due to an undisclosed health issue.<\/p>\n Read our explainer article on the Falcon 9 rocket<\/a> to find out more!<\/p>\n