NASA camera melted at rocket launch — but captured its own demise

A NASA photographer's camera melted at a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch — but its photos survived, capturing its own demise.

Bill Ingalls had set up several remotely triggered cameras near the launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The launch went off without a hitch, and the camera managed to capture it.

Mr Ingalls began collecting his cameras, finding ones closer to the launch pad in good condition.

But he discovered one DSLR, positioned outside the pad perimeter, melted.

It turned out the camera had been caught in a small brushfire, sparked by the rocket launch, which Mr Ingalls said were, "not unheard of from launches".

"[It] was extinguished by [firemen], albeit, after my cam was baked," he said in a Facebook post.

But its memory cards survived the fire, and Mr Ingalls found it had continued to take photos "until its demise".