Elon Musk responds to scintillating video of orbital sunset taken from Dragon's Cupola
From the vessel's transparent dome, which sits atop the Dragon capsule, the first all-civilian crew to circle the Earth were able to view orbital sunsets.
- Science News
- 2 min read

SpaceX shows how an orbital sunset appears, from their Crew Dragon spacecraft. From the vessel's transparent dome, which sits atop the Dragon capsule, the first all-civilian crew to circle the Earth were able to view orbital sunsets.
The video sparked a flurry of responses, including one from Elon Musk. Along with the footage, he wrote, "Moving at ~23 times speed of sound, circling Earth every ~90 minutes."
The video posted on SpaceX's official Twitter account has gone viral. The clip depicts an orbital sunset recorded from Dragon's Cupola while on the Inspiration4 mission, which is orbiting Earth with four private astronauts.
Moving at ~23 times speed of sound, circling Earth every ~90 minutes https://t.co/AncsjFpirC
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 18, 2021
It's the first time a cupola has been installed on a Dragon, which typically transports humans or cargo to the International Space Station and features a docking port rather than a window at its peak.
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The Inspiration4mission crew, which included a billionaire e-commerce executive and three other private citizens, launched into orbit on September 15.
Since being shared a few hours ago, the video has received millions of views, thousands of comments and the numbers are just rising.
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A Twitter user exclaimed, "I am crying. This is a scene from a science fiction movie that comes to reality let's go to space now!" “I'm in tears. "I would just watch a live video of the cupola with Earth in the background constantly,". another said. "Beautiful let's keep moving onward outward for humanity let's go beyond I'm proud to be a part of the SpaceX team. Godspeed SpaceX; Elon Musk,” said a third person.
😍I am crying 😭This is a scene from a science fiction movie comes to the reality 👽🎥 let's go to space now!🚀🐉pic.twitter.com/ewxc0kpMdd
— venus 🧜♀️ (@venus47203379) September 18, 2021
I would just watch a live video of the cupola with Earth in the background constantly. I watched when Starman was in orbit around the Earth.
— Marc Moran (@MCMarkyMarcYT) September 18, 2021
Beautiful let's keep moving onward outward for humanity let's go beyond I'm proud to be a part of the SpaceX team. Godspeed SpaceX; Elon Musk.
— Joseph Stamm (@jceesu) September 18, 2021