Shortly after midnight on 8/7/18, the SpaceX Falcon 9 roared into the night, carrying Indonesia's Merah Putih communication satellite to geostationary transfer orbit. This photo consists of hundreds of captures. I started around 9:30pm, capturing repeated 30-second exposures of the stars for the ~3 hours leading up to launch. Then, in two 2.5- and 3.5-minute exposures, captured the first stage and second stage flight, respectively.
...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.
Falcon 9 lifts off, carrying 60 Starlink satellites - the first operational batch. This was the fourth flight for this booster, which is why it looks so dang dirty. Over the coming months, SpaceX will continue launching more, until there are enough to offer global internet coverage through receivers the size of a pizza box, as they put it.
