We are used to extraordinary images from NASA's exploratory and scientific missions, but sometimes even their technological breakthroughs on Earth can be as equally beautiful.

In June, the American space agency tested a booster for its new heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and it has now released an incredible slow-motion video of the test produced by its High Dynamic Range Stereo X (HiDyRS-X) camera, showing the swirling exhaust flame. But the video is more than just pretty; the way it is shot will help the teams working on the rocket to understand how the propulsion system is behaving.

“HiDyRS-X records high speed, high dynamic range footage in multiple exposures simultaneously for use in analyzing rocket engine tests,” said NASA. “Traditional high speed video cameras are limited to shooting in one exposure at a time, but HiDyRS-X can record multiple high speed video exposures at once, combining them into a high dynamic range video that adequately exposes all areas of the video image for comprehensive analysis.”

June’s test was the fifth and final ground test for the SLS booster, and so far the system seems to be in great shape. The booster has a thrust of 16 million Newtons, equivalent to 40 jumbo jet engines, and the rocket as a whole will have two of these in addition to its main engine when it launches. SLS will be the most powerful rocket in operation, taking a spacecraft to the Moon first in 2018, and eventually taking astronauts to Mars.