During the 1980s, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the oil expropriation, Pedro Meyer traveled throughout the Mexican Republic to document the Pemex social project, capturing more than 16,000 photographs. Beyond the industrial structures, his images revealed the human factor that drives that machinery. With this material he created The Rockets Lasted All Day (1988), a book of 3,000 copies that was censored, leaving only a few in the hands of the author.

Nearly 40 years after that episode, Meyer reexamines his archive and recovers the project in a new edition, The Rockets Lasted All Day, Updated Version. With a text by historian Juan Miguel Zunzunegui, the book invites reflection on the myths of Pemex and the fusion between machinery, labor force, and politics.

The inclusion of the first version in The Photobook: A History Volume II (book from England, 2004) underscores its significance as a reference in the history of photography. Today, this project defies the oblivion imposed by censorship and is reborn as a work that illuminates and enriches the visual and historical narrative of Mexico.