NASA's moon rocket blasted out jumbo clouds. Don't call them smoke.

The launch pad was blanketed in white clouds as NASA's moon rocket lit up in the dark.

After the spaceship vanished out of sight, the billowed into the air like a smoke bomb.

An engineer at Aerojet Rocketdyne said that it would be a mistake to call the clouds smoke. The main engines do not kick out soot or carbon.

They are the result of a chemical process that happens when liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen meet. When you combine oxygen and hydrogen, what happens?

You start getting steam. Perkins said it's just water. The majority of what you see is the result of the engine.

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The Space Launch System is the most powerful rocket ever built. The Space Shuttle's four main engines consume over one million gallons of super- cold propellant. The engines and two side boosters could keep the Boeings in the air.

NASA has used liquid hydrogen as its fuel for decades because it has the lowest weight in the world. It's ideal for travel to space. The bigger the load, the harder it is to escape Earth's gravity. Hydrogen burns with a high degree of intensity.

Liquid oxygen and hydrogen were kept separate from each other in the rocket's tank. At the last moment, the two ingredients came together, causing a controlled explosion.

The mega moon rocket has four powerful RS-25 main engines. Credit: NASA / Eric Bordelon

NASA's mega moon rocket blasts off for the first time on Nov. 16, 2022. Credit: NASA / Joel Kowsky

The clouds are similar to what people see when an airplane flies overhead. It takes 13 times the speed of sound to travel from New York to Los Angeles in 15 minutes.

There are more than one engine on this rocket. Carbon monoxide, hydrogen chloride, and nitrogen are some of the gasses discharged by the solid rocket boosters. The tiny particles of aluminum oxide and hydrochloric acid can look like a white vapor. Compared to the eight-minute romp from the four main engines, the two-minute side boosters give much less huffing and puffing.

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A water suppression system at the rocket's Kennedy Space Center launch pad sprays hundreds of thousands of gallons of water. Credit: NASA / Kim Shiflett

The water spray system at the launch pad creates clouds from hundreds of thousands of gallons of water. The heat that occurs during liftoff is suppressed by the flood.

It's important that water doesn't spread because it helps prevent damage from loud noise. Sound waves can cause pipes, cracks, and even parts of the rocket to break.

Sometimes water vapor condenses around an engine testing site, causing localized rain. Credit: NASA

The weather can be created by the Condensed Vapor in the Atmosphere. During tests, engineers see this happen.

Perkins said that the steam came out of the exhaust. The area gets some rain and mist.

They call it rocket rain when it rains.