Just before dawn on 6/29/18, a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched Cargo Dragon, carrying supplies up to the International Space Station. The magic from this launch came as the rocket climbed up into sunlight, which lit up the exhaust plume in one of the most beautiful displays I've ever seen in the sky. Taken from the banks of Mosquito Lagoon, north of Kennedy Space Center.
...and what a flight it was. This beautiful machine took to the skies one last time to deliver the GPS-III Magellan satellite to orbit. There's no other rocket flying today that's as photogenic as Delta. With its bright orange tank, and the combination of liquid hydrogen fuel and strap-on solid rocket motors, the contrast and beauty is unmatched. I only wish I could have photographed it more before its retirement. It gives way to the new ULA rocket, Vulcan, scheduled to begin flying in 2021.
I chose this location because I recently realized that this dock is almost exactly due west from the launch pad, so I thought looking straight down the dock towards the pad would look cool. Also, with the trajectory being almost due east, the trail would stay in the center. Because, you know, symmetry. Turns out, it was so close the being perfectly up and away from me that it basically made a short straight line. I honestly didn’t expect it to be that close to perfect! The star trails were taken in the time leading up to the launch after the clouds cleared out, then blended together in post, of course.
