When veteran NASA photographer Bill Ingalls set up his gear for Tuesday's SpaceX Falcon 9 launch he never could've imagined that it'd be a photo of one of his cameras that would get so much attention.
After the rocket successfully took off, images of his freshly charred camera spread like fire online. Most people assumed it must've been set up too close to the launch site, but that's not what happened.
Ingalls told NASA.com that the "melted camera" met its demise thanks to a brush fire sparked by the rocket launch.
"Unfortunately, the launch started a grass fire that toasted one of the cameras outside the perimeter," Ingalls explained.
Ironically the damaged camera was the one he set up furthest from the launch pad, about a quarter of a mile away. The four cameras placed inside the launch pad safety perimeter were undamaged.
Firefighters were waiting to greet him when Ingalls returned to the site. He quickly realized the camera was destroyed and forced open the camera to see if the memory card could be salvaged, according to NASA.com.
Remarkably, the pictures survived and captured some shots of the launch as well as the fire responsible for destroying the camera.
Ingalls has dubbed the melted mess his "toasty" camera, and it'll likely be put on display at NASA's headquarters in Washington, DC.
