These eerie images of a fiery sky show the moment when SpaceX鈥檚 Starship rocket dramatically returned to Earth in pieces last week. They were captured by , who was working as a chef on a superyacht in the Turks and Caicos Islands. When he realised what was happening, he grabbed his camera extender for a closer shot.
Starship鈥檚 seventh flight test took off from SpaceX鈥檚 site at Boca Chica, Texas, on 16 January, but SpaceX . 鈥淩apid unscheduled disassembly鈥�, as the company creatively refers to explosions, followed after a fire developed in the aft section of the ship.
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鈥淲e were all aware that the launch was taking place, but I didn鈥檛 expect to witness such a dramatic moment,鈥� says Temple. He describes the scene as 鈥渁lmost otherworldly, reminiscent of something from the extinction of the dinosaurs鈥�.
While plenty of video exists showing the rocket鈥檚 explosion, Temple鈥檚 are the only known images shot by a professional photographer. Temple says it felt 鈥渟urreal鈥� to have been the one to take them. His other job as a chef meant that he was 鈥渋n the right place at the right time to capture these images鈥�, he says.
鈥淚鈥檝e spent most of my career as a chef, and I鈥檝e only recently started pursuing photography over the past two years,鈥� says Temple. 鈥淚t鈥檚 even more surreal to know that so many people now have my images as their phone screensaver 鈥� it鈥檚 something I never could have imagined.鈥�
