SpaceDreamer

My first piece of rocket art versus my latest. Skills sharpen with experience, but passion only persists if you nurture it.

The CH4 pipe on the SQD has been initially tested today. The first part of the video shows the pipe getting frosty, the middle shows the tank farm venting associated with the test, and the end shows the pipe start to defrost. @LabPadre

😎 - January 31, 2026

@saniyafatma1278 And a lot of disappointment

Starbase Weekly is live now! Pad 1's flame trench outline:

Getting alot of deja vu with this pad having spent so much time analysing the construction of Pad 2 🥴

Happy Easter space friends. 1.69 light-seconds away! Almost time!

Happy Easter, space nerds. ♥️

@cnunezimages @SpaceIntel101 I sure hope we see this again soon!!!

😎 - February 26, 2026

Fun facts: If all the planets in our solar system were lined up side by side, they would fit between the Earth and the Moon with a little room to spare

...AND a pancake/top deck test to boot! THIS is much more what I was hoping for! @LabPadre

Scaffolding has been removed from the Orbital Launch Mount. 📸@NASASpaceflight

Having rolled back from Massey's last night, the Ship Static Fire stand is being prepped for an eventual move to MB-2... Please be soon! @LabPadre

Over night and into this morning crews are busy with Scaffungus removal! Hurrah! The Chopsticks were raised out of the crane's way and baskets were lifted and lowered as they were filled. @LabPadre

At the production site, the LOX landing tank install jig has been removed from B20 and MB-1, returning to SFC. S40 stands inside MB-2, where scaffungus has also been removed and tiling work looks smooth! @LabPadre

Gigabay has got its first Level 5 columns today. @LabPadre

This photo has a very personal meaning for me if you care to read it. I saw a photo from @johnkrausphotos on reddit nearly a decade ago of the engines on a Falcon Heavy launch. I was working at a tough sales job at the time. The shot inspired me to learn more about space and spaceflight. Shortly after, I bought my first telescope. I saw Jupiter, Saturn, and Nebulae, and started social media accounts where I shared my amateur photos. Then I was laid off, and Covid happened. Moved from Sacramento to Arizona for clearer skies, cheaper cost of living, and a chance to go all-in on space photography. My audience started to grow. Then, NASA contacted me, asking me if they could use some of my moon photos for something called Artemis. I said yes. During the Artemis I rollout my DMs blew up “Andrew- your photo is on the Mobile Launch Platform!”. Now I knew that astrophotography wasn’t enough… I should probably pay attention to spaceflight. I spent a lot coming out to the first launch attempt, which would be my first rocket launch if it flew. Sadly, it was a scrub. I came home from Florida, sharing my stories of touring the VAB and facilities with my grandfather, who worked on Apollo. He passed shortly after, which affected my ability to return to watch the SLS flew. Feeling bummed out, I focused back on my deep sky work, but then I started hearing about something called “Starship”. I caught a video from @Erdayastronaut where a rocket ship fell through the air belly-first and flipped upright and landed. Inspired, I knew I had to witness one of these machines fly, so I flew to Starbase the moment I could afford it, which was for the second fully integrated flight test. The moment Starship lifted off the pad, I was hooked. There was nothing quite like the experience. I did everything I could to catch every launch I could, and worked to become credentialed media to get better access. Last year I flew from Arizona to Florida & Texas over a dozen times specifically to sharpen my launch photography skills with our first human spaceflight to the moon in over 50 years looming. A decade of preparation for a split second moment. When I picked up my camera from the launch pad yesterday morning and peeked at what was captured, I knew it was all worth it. Thank you, NASA, Artemis, and the all people who inspired me along the way. This is still only the beginning.

This looks like it's a daytime shot, but, it's actually taken from the dark side of Earth, with the planet illuminated by moonlight. This lets faint details like the aurora, stars and the sodium layer show up without over exposing the planet.

That's us! 🌍 The Artemis II crew captured beautiful, high-resolution images of our home planet during their journey to the Moon. As @Astro_Christina put it: "You guys look great."