Photo Captures Boy's Joy Of Seeing Starship Launch

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Professional rocket launch photographer Erik Kuna was scoping out shots at SpaceX’s April 20 Starship test flight in Boca Chica, Texas, when he spotted two young boys tugging their father along to get a spot among the spectators on nearby South Padre Island.

Kuna, set up on a sand dune about 300 feet away, kept a close eye on them, hoping for an animated reaction when the rocket lifted off.

The countdown paused. Then started again. 3 … 2 … 1… Liftoff.

The bigger of the two boys leapt into the air, pumping his fists above his head.

"He was just reacting in the moment. He wasn't looking through a lens, he wasn't looking through a viewfinder, he wasn't recording video. He was just lost in the moment," Kuna told weather.com.

"And that's what I loved about the kid's reaction."

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Kuna caught it all on camera, but had no idea who the boy was.

"I had the shot, I was packing up my gear and I wanted to get to him and the crowd was so big that we just lost them," Kuna said.

A few days later, Kuna shared the photo on Twitter.

His post read: “Alright Internet … I need help to find this photo to the wall of that Rockstar of Spaceflight … This kid had such enthusiasm and passion the minute that thing broke from the dust! … Maybe someone knows someone who was at the launch who knows someone who recognizes someone, would be cool. Never know …”

Seven hours and 13 minutes later, Matthew Herzl replied: “You captured a great photo, Erik! I'm the father in the gray shirt with the two boys there, and will be honored to personally post it on their wall for you. We drove down from our small Arkansas town to see the launch. What a creation! And what a special atmosphere and moment.”

Herzl’s 9-year-old son, Kaizen, was the boy jumping for joy in the photo. Little brother Beowulf, age 5, was there, too. The three of them described to weather.com what it was like that day.

Kaizen: “It sounded like a thousand sticks of dynamite blowing up every second.”

Beowulf: “I felt my feet shaking a little.”

Matthew Herzl: “It’s pretty amazing.”

The Herzls traveled 900 miles from their home in Marshall, Arkansas, to see the launch, listening to "Lord of the Rings" on audio and battling car trouble that stretched the trip to 26 hours.

They would do it all over again.

Starship exploded a few minutes after takeoff, but that didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits.

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Kuna, who has documented about 150 rocket launches in the past five years through his work for a company called Supercluster says launches show the greatness that humanity can do, and experiencing one in person unites people from all different backgrounds in a single moment.

“And that’s really what we’re trying to tell the story of through these pictures,” Kuna said. “And I'm hoping that picture did a pretty good job of it.“

J​an Childs covers space, climate change, news and feature stories for weather.com.

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