Uploaded November 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

---

In an unmanned aviation history first, a drone has raced the orbital class rocket, EcoRocket.
The event took place at ARCA’s test facility, on November 12, 2021.
The drone was hovering close to the launch silo, during the rocket’s countdown.
After the rocket took off, the drone successfully matched the rocket’s climbing speed.
After a few seconds though, the rocket’s higher thrust to weight ratio started to make a difference, and the drone couldn’t keep up.
We should applaud the drone’s pilot skills, who was the first in unmanned aviation history to race an orbital rocket.
EcoRocket is built by ARCA, and will perform its first orbital flight in 2022.

Footage:

Drone pilot: Livyu FPV
Second drone pilot: Alexandru Tache
Iulian Mihai
Dumitru Popescu
Larisa Manole
Cosmin Diaconescu
Radu Cretu

#HelloGreenRockets
#LansămRomânia

If you like this video series, consider supporting it on Patreon: patreon.com/arcaspace

Music License: Epic Motivational Action Trailer, V. Taran / Music Standard License purchased from Envato Market / Invoice IVIP45674446 / Order 155340096 / 19 Nov 2021.