SpaceX’s Starship lifts off during an orbital test mission, on the company’s Boca Chica launchpad near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. April 20, 2023. Photographer Joe Skipper was covering the first test flight of Elon Musk's next-generation SpaceX Starship in southern Texas in April. The ship was mounted atop the Super Heavy rocket, touted as the most powerful launch vehicle on Earth. Getting a close-up photo of liftoff would be a challenge - to Skipper and colleague Steve Nesius, it seemed like an opportune moment to employ remote equipment. "Steve and I set out the closest camera, about 150 yards (140 meters) from the rocket to a heavily anchored metal fence. We attached a sound trigger, lens heater, and a Canon 1DX camera with a 20mm lens. It was clearly a risk for the gear, but there was hope for a few frames before the smoke from the Raptor engines would shroud the camera," said Skipper. In the end, the craft exploded minutes after liftoff, shattering the launchpad and spraying the area with debris. This is a photo retrieved from a destroyed remote camera on the launch pad, which was returned on May 22 to Reuters from SpaceX. REUTERS/Joe Skipper
