Watch The Apollo 11 Launch, in Slo-, Glorious Mo [Video]

Shuttle launches are momentous experiences for a number of reasons — the engineering prowess, the uncertainty, the research ahead. But really, our little lizard brains like the fire and explosions the best.

This raw video from the launch umbilical tower of Apollo 11‘s Saturn V rocket launch, taken on July 16th, 1969, manages to satisfy both ways of thinking: Shot at 500fps, it stretches out the first thirty seconds of the launch into eight glorious pyrotechnic minutes. But the spectacle is balanced out by knowledgeable narration by Mark Gray, the EP for Spacecraft Films.

Video after the jump:

Apollo 11 Saturn V Launch (HD) Camera E-8 from Mark Gray on Vimeo.

(via Kottke)