Liftoff Videos

Every mission, with the videos that tell it

Low Earth orbit

Low Earth orbit, or LEO, is any orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less, which means at least 11.25 orbits a day. The region reaches up to about 2,000 kilometres altitude, around a third of Earth’s radius. Most artificial objects in space are in it, with their numbers peaking near 800 kilometres. The International Space Station flies at about 400 kilometres, and the Space Shuttle stayed within it too. Only the Apollo crews, from 1968 to 1972, and the Artemis II crew in 2026 have gone beyond it. Satellite launches such as ORBCOMM-2 put their payloads into this region.

Events

Videos on this topic

The videos, in date order

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  1. Starship Flight 8: Booster Caught, Then the Ship Loses Engines

    The Launch Pad

  2. Challenger 1986: O-Ring Failure and the Loss of Seven Astronauts

    National Geographic UK

  3. Mir Space Station: Why Its Design Made It a Success

    Alexander the ok

  4. Columbia STS-107: How a Foam Strike Led to the Shuttle’s Loss

    100% True Docs | Full Documentaries

  5. Challenger: How a Cold-Weather O-Ring Failure Led to the Disaster

    Free Documentary – Space

  6. Starship Flight 10: Launch from Starbase and Objectives Met

    SpaceX

  7. Starship Flight 11: Hot Staging, V3 Booster Landing Burn, SECO

    The Launch Pad

  8. Tranche 1 Transport Layer C: Falcon 9 Lofts 21 Satellites

    Everyday Astronaut

  9. Challenger STS-51-L: Cold, O-Rings and the Rogers Commission

    DocuReal

  10. Columbia STS-107: From Foam Strike to Breakup on Re-entry

    Documentary Overload

  11. Rocket Lab Electron Bridging the Swarm: NEONSAT-1A Launch Scrubbed

    Everyday Astronaut

  12. Challenger STS-51-L: NBC4’s Live Broadcast of the 1986 Launch

    Nbcla

  13. Skylab: The Launch Damage, Rescue and Three Crews’ Record Stays

    Absolute Documentaries

  14. Electron Launches Earth Observation Satellite From Mahia LC-1

    Rocket Lab

  15. Electron Launches the Eighth StriX Satellite for Synspective

    Rocket Lab

  16. Columbia STS-107: How a Foam Strike Led to Breakup on Re-entry

    3DCrash

  17. Electron Launches ESA’s Celeste IOD Satellites to 510 km Orbit

    Rocket Lab

  18. Kakushin Rising: Electron Deploys Eight JAXA Satellites to Orbit

    Rocket Lab

  19. Columbia’s Last Mission: Foam Strike to Breakup Over Texas

    The Infographics Show

  20. Starship V3 Flight 12: Pad 2, Raptor 3, Booster 19 and Ship 39

    Everyday Astronaut

  21. Starship Flight 12: Countdown to the First V3 Launch from Pad 2

    Everyday Astronaut

  22. Electron Delivers a StriX Radar Satellite to Orbit for Synspective

    Rocket Lab

  23. Starship Flight 12: First V3 Launch, Booster Loss and Engine Out

    Everyday Astronaut

  24. Victus Haze: Electron Launches Pioneer on Under 17 Hours Notice

    Rocket Lab

  25. Electron Launch 91: Rocket Lab Deploys Its 10th StriX Satellite

    Rocket Lab

  26. Starship Flight 12: Inside the Final Days Before the First V3

    SpaceX

  27. Starship Flight 13 Scrub: Booster Abort at Startup on Pad 2

    Everyday Astronaut

  28. Starship Flight 13: Booster Splashdown and Ship Orbit Insertion

    VideoFromSpace

  29. Starship Flight 13: Pad Abort Cause and 20 Starlink V3 Satellites

    Everyday Astronaut

  30. Columbia STS-107: How a Foam Strike and Missed Imagery Led to Loss

    Andy R Animations

  31. Electron Launches iQPS MIKURA-I Radar Satellite from New Zealand

    Rocket Lab

  32. Starlab Station Tour: Voyager’s Starship-Sized Research Outpost

    Everyday Astronaut

  33. Electron’s 93rd Launch Puts iQPS Radar Satellite in 575 km Orbit

    Rocket Lab

  34. TIROS 1: The First Weather Satellite and Its Fuzzy First Images

    Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

  35. Vega C Launches FLEX and Sentinel-3C on a Shared Flight

    European Space Agency, ESA

  36. Starship Ship 40: Towing a Floating Rocket Across the Indian Ocean

    SpaceX

  37. Owl By The Dozen: Electron Deploys a 12th StriX Radar Satellite

    Rocket Lab

  38. Electron Launches the 13th StriX Radar Satellite for Synspective

    Rocket Lab

  39. Starship Flight 14: First Orbit and 26 V3 Starlink Satellites

    CNET

  40. Starship Flight 14: First Orbit and 26 Starlink V3 Deployed

    Everyday Astronaut

  41. Starship Flight 14: First Orbit and Starlink V3 Deployment

    The Space Race

  42. Starship Flight 14: First Orbit, 26 Starlink V3s and an Early Return

    Scott Manley

  43. YES2: How a 31.7 km Tether Was Meant to Drop a Capsule

    Scott Manley

  44. Starship Flight 14: Orbit, 26 Starlink V3 Satellites, Early Deorbit

    NASASpaceflight

  45. Starlink 15-25: Falcon 9 B1088 Launch and Landing at Vandenberg

    NASASpaceflight

  46. Galileo: How Europe Built Its Own Satellite Navigation System

    European Space Agency, ESA

  47. Bandwagon-5: Falcon 9 Rideshare Launch With Starfall Capsule

    NASASpaceflight

  48. Artemis 3 Update: Rocket Progress, Landers and the 2028 Plan

    NASA

  49. Rocket Lab’s 98th Electron Launch Deploys Three HawkEye 360 Satellites

    Rocket Lab

  50. Artemis III: Orion Docks With Blue Moon and Starship in Orbit

    The Space Race

  51. Starship Flight 14: First Orbit and 26 Starlink V3 Satellites

    Beyond The Space

  52. Starship Flight 14: How V3 Reached Orbit and Deployed 26 Satellites

    Curiously Brief

  53. Starship Flights 1 to 14: How Build-Fly-Fail-Fix Reached Orbit

    Beyond Liftoff

  54. Challenger STS-51-L: O-Ring Failure, Cold Launch and Return to Flight

    FilmRise Television

  55. Challenger STS-51-L: The Night Engineers Said Don’t Launch

    Margin of Loss

  56. Artemis 3 Becomes an Earth-Orbit Rehearsal for Moon Landers

    Cosmic Enigma

  57. Challenger STS-51-L: The Seals, the Cold and 73 Seconds

    Horror Archive

  58. Columbia STS-107: Five Failures Behind the Foam Strike on the Wing

    Holes Aligned

  59. Challenger STS-51-L: O-Rings, Cold and the Overruled Warning

    Cindermap

  60. Challenger STS-51-L: The O-Ring Warning and the 73-Second Flight

    CliphangerEntertainment
Play video: Challenger STS-51-L: The O-Ring Warning and the 73-Second Flight

Challenger STS-51-L: The O-Ring Warning and the 73-Second Flight

CliphangerEntertainment

Duration 5:20

Watch video

Dates are when each video was first published on YouTube.

All the videos

  1. How the ISS Works: Air, Cooling, Power and Debris Defence

    DocumentaryNational Geographic · 44:25

  2. Columbia Disaster: How ABC News Reported the Shuttle’s Loss

    ABC News · 3:39

    Mission: Columbia STS-107 (2003)

  3. Starship Flight 5: Super Heavy Booster Caught on First Attempt

    Launch coverageSpaceX · 3:29

    Mission: Starship Flight 5 (2024)

  4. Challenger 1986: O-Ring Failure and the Loss of Seven Astronauts

    DocumentaryNational Geographic UK · 2:08

    Mission: Challenger STS-51-L (1986)

  5. Challenger STS-51-L: Cold, O-Rings and the Rogers Commission

    DocumentaryDocuReal · 42:24

    Mission: Challenger STS-51-L (1986)

  6. Challenger: How Cold-Shrunk O-Rings Led to the Booster Leak

    DocumentaryHistory · 7:08

    Mission: Challenger STS-51-L (1986)

  7. Challenger 51-L: O-Rings, a Cold Launch and the Decision to Go

    DocumentaryM M · 2:33:36

    Mission: Challenger STS-51-L (1986)

  8. Challenger STS-51-L: The O-Ring Seals, Cold Launch and Rogers Report

    DocumentaryPlainly Difficult · 27:35

    Mission: Challenger STS-51-L (1986)

  9. Challenger: O-Rings, a Cold Launch Night and NASA’s Decisions

    DocumentaryThe New York Times · 20:15

    Mission: Challenger STS-51-L (1986)

  10. Starship Flight 1: Pad Cleared, Then Tumble Ended the Test

    Launch coverageSpaceX · 53:21

    Mission: Starship Flight 1 (2023)

  11. Hubble Space Telescope: Launch, Mirror Flaw and Servicing Fixes

    DocumentaryNASA Goddard · 51:16

    Mission: Hubble Space Telescope

  12. Falcon 9 Orbcomm Launch: 11 Satellites and a First Stage Landing

    Launch coverageSpaceX · 3:38

    Mission: Falcon 9 Orbcomm OG2 Flight 2 (2015)

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