Sometimes, you’ve just got to pause for a moment to appreciate great feats of engineering.

On Thursday, before it took off, the Falcon Heavy rocket stood on a Florida launch pad and packed the energy equivalent of a tactical nuclear weapon. Then, as it launched, all of this energy poured forth from 27 engines in a meticulously controlled explosion for the purpose of sending a 6-ton satellite into geostationary orbit.

The single image below, of those 27 engines burning against the sunset backdrop along the Florida coast, may in some small measure put that achievement into perspective.