We Report Space

At 7:48 a.m. ET Monday, Memorial Day, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying Starlink satellites to orbit. This was the view from Titusville 60 seconds into the flight, as the rocket passed in front of the Sun with a hint of vapor cone around the payload.

Dreamy Space Coast morning view as SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket at 6:04am (ET), seen here over the Banana River from Merritt Island, Florida. Bonus: Space jellyfish = confirmed

RT @MikeSeeley: At 6:05pm Friday (May 15) SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket sending the CRS-34 mission to space, a cargo dragon carrying su…

While you were sleeping (probably): At 2:53am (ET) Tuesday, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket sending the GPS III SV10 satellite to space. This is the last in the 32 satellite constellation. This was the view over the Indian River from the Eau Gallie Causeway in Melbourne, FL.

Liftoff, New Glenn! (volume up) At 7:25am (ET) Sunday, Blue Origin launched the BlueBird Block 2 FM2 mission from LC-36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This was captured from the the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse with a @GoPro on a timer, left the day before.

Blue Origin twice flown (and now twice recovered) New Glenn rocket and its seven BE-4 rocket engines pushing out ~3.85 million pounds of thrust as it left the pad Sunday morning.

Liftoff!! At 7:25am (ET) Sunday, Blue Origin launched the BlueBird Block 2 FM2 mission from LC-36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. They used a previously flown New Glenn booster, and again (!) successfully recovered it. 🤯 This was the view from a packed Jetty Park.

SpaceX Starlink 10-24 launch at 5:33am Tuesday from the Space Coast. Downrange space jellyfish: ☑️ Booster re-entry burn: ☑️ Light column (above the pad): ☑️ Much of the east coast would have had an amazing view of the jelly, well-predicted by @spacejellyalert.

science + engineering

🚀 + ☀️ At 7:41am (ET) Saturday, #SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket sending the CRS NG-24 mission to space, a @northropgrumman Cygnus spacecraft carrying supplies for the ISS. This was the view from Titusville as it transited the recently risen Sun. Captured with a @canonusa R5 and RF100-500L + 1.4x TC with a solar filter. It was ~40 mins after sunrise and already very bright.

Liftoff!! At 7:41am (ET) Saturday, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket sending the CRS NG-24 mission to space, a @northropgrumman Cygnus spacecraft carrying supplies for the ISS. This was the view from Titusville as it transited the recently risen Sun.

On this date, 10 years ago: SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying supplies for the International Space Station, the CRS-8 mission. The was the first booster to successfully land on a drone ship. In the time since, SpaceX has had over 600 successful booster recoveries.

Artemis II liftoff: cell phone video, kept running for the sound, which is…wow, just, wow. Sorry, I didn’t pan up; this was a last minute decision and I propped it on a still camera. I’m actually surprised the vibrations didn’t knock it to the ground.

Until yesterday, an image like this, daytime Space Launch System in flight, was a rendering, a graphic, or more recently, AI. This here is a real image (complete with faint hint of a vapor cone) as the Orion capsule named "Integrity" and its crew of 4 remarkable humans climb to space. And with the recent nominal translunar injection burn, the Artemis II crew is officially headed to the Moon. Congratulations to everyone involved in the Artemis program; this mission is truly an inspiration to so many.

Artemis II in flight, carrying four humans to the Moon. 🤯🤯🤯

Liftoff!!! Godspeed, Artemis II!

Tuesday morning at NASA's Kennedy Space Center: Artemis II at sunrise

Sunday morning SpaceX Falcon 9 launch from Cocoa Beach, Florida

Sunday morning: Artemis II / SLS / Orion with the rising Sun

One of my photos of the March 4 Starlink 10-40 SpaceX Falcon 9 launch was chosen as NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day (”APOD”) for today. I’m humbled by this, as the “Space Jellyfish” shown was visible across much of the U.S. East Coast, and many very cool photos were captured of it. The caption, written by the very smart Cecilia Chirenti, well describes the phenomenon shown. Photos don’t really do it justice; it’s truly breathtaking, like a giant illuminated flower opening in the night, or, if a more apocalyptic tone is your thing, it’s like the night sky is ripping open. Big shout-out to the ever-cool and ubiquitous John “Snap” Kraus aka @johnkrausphotos, who has developed an app to gauge the likelihood of a still sometimes surprising space jelly, located in public beta here: jellyfish.johnkrausphotos.com. The prediction for this launch was good, and this is a tool every launch/weather enthusiast should know about. This frame was captured using the same camera I stuck in the Banana River for the streak, inverted under my tripod, just a couple of inches above the water. The water wasn’t still enough for the mirrored shot I hoped for, but the jelly glow is reflected nicely. After I ended the streak shot, I quickly dialed in some settings, and this is what I came up with. APOD link here: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260319.… Details: ISO1250, f4.5, and 1.3-secs captured with a @CanonUSA R5M2 and EF24-70mm L lens.