Why does footage of rocket launches by space agencies look so slow?

Question

You see video of rockets with munitions in them like surface -to-air and plane mounted rockets and they seem to move so quick. Why do these massive rockets seem to move slow? Is it payload? Do they speed up as they reach the stratosphere?

In: 16

Answer 1

They’re slow coming off the launch pad because they’re full of fuel, often starting with a thrust to weight ratio only slightly higher than one. The acceleration increases as they get lighter.

However, they’re still moving much faster than it seems, it just looks slow because the scale of the rocket is huge.