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Some friends, my son and I went to the Black Rock Desert for the Mudroc rocket launch event over the weekend. Steve Jurvetson launched his fiberglass rocket called Warped Reality. The 12 feet rocket had a big N1560 motor and went supersonic, reaching over 19,000 feet in a few seconds. We retrieved it about 7 miles north.

Here is a short video of the same Warped Reality rocket we launched two years ago: bit.ly/1tZAqMi.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC9024_hdr1bal1d

Update 2016-07-04: Steve Jurvetson posted a video compilation of this launch; it includes a short footage of the high-speed camera: YouTube video & more photos.

We couldn't have asked for clearer skies for the Monday night #SpaceX #Starlink #Falcon9 launch. I've never framed a shot with the out-to-sea entry burn in mind, but the clear skies (and Declan Murphy's prediction -- more on that in a moment) made me think it would be visible. But 6-ish minutes after launch, there it was, the bright light of the first stage, descending through the atmosphere.

That's my favorite part about this photo -- the thin line above the green post in the water. There's also a bird standing on the green post, just hanging out.

I was in Titusville for this shot, looking across the Indian River at the A. Max Brewer Bridge. There was a significant crowd gathered on the bridge, and it was fun to hear the excited reaction to the launch.

My last trip to this location was back in 2017 for the SpaceX Echostar launch. This was pre-flightclub.io, and I had misjudged the trajectory generally, so I failed to realize (until I saw my shot) that the Echostar launch trajectory was basically due east, which meant my streak was just a short line, straight up. I was not pleased. But, all that was avoided with this launch. And, flightclub well-predicted the location of the entry burn, which was ultimately why I chose this location.

In terms of the anatomy of this photo, there's the first stage (the big streak), the second stage (the faint reddish streaks low on the horizon), the entry burn and 24-minutes of star trails as they spun around the sky before the launch. (The final image is a composite of 52 frames.)

And, thanks again to my We Report Space colleagues, who well-covered the launch up-close.

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We will be at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada with fellow rocketeers, launching rockets on June 19-21. Anybody interested in joining the fun? Info at bit.ly/aeropac.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from one RAW exposure.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC7376_hdr1bal1e

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In September 2014 we joined a high power rocket event at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. At that time a very cool rocket called "Light Show" was launched at night with hundreds of LEDs. The LEDs slowly changed colors. On this shot, the owner signs off his rocket before launch. The flight was good at first, but the parachute did not deploy, so the rocket came down ballistic with a hissing sound like a missile. It buried deep into into the ground near the flight line. Failures happen, it's part of rocketry.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC7083_hdr1bal1b

We went to a rocket launch event at the Snow Ranch, East of Stockton in California's Central Valley. I volunteered to watch and alert for aircraft that ignore the NOTAM (notice to airman) - we don't want to shoot down airplanes! A high power rocket just launched, laving behind a black smoke trail

I processed a balanced and a paintery HDR photo from a RAW exposure, merged them selectively, and carefully adjusted the color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.

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-- ƒ/7.1, 71 mm, 1/320 sec, ISO 100, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC9594_hdr1bal1pai1f.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

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We just arrived at 3 am the Black Rock Desert in Nevada for Balls 25, the Wild West event of rocketry. My son will launch his level 3 rocket and hopefully pass the level 3 certification. Knock on wood!

I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure, and carefully adjusted the curves.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC2529_hdr1bal1d

Last weekend we attended high power rocket launches at Friends of Amateur Rocketry, a private rocket launch facility in the Mojave Desert, California. I was invited to take photos of a test launch by a commercial rocket company on Sunday. One attendee tried to locate the rocket with his new DJI Mavic 3.

I processed a balanced and a paintery HDR photo from a RAW exposure, merged them selectively, and carefully adjusted color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/6.3, 158 mm, 1/800 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC2001_pho1hdr1bal1pai5f.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

Fritz Eisel 1972

We spent the last September weekend at Balls 29, a big experimental rocket launch event in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada - the same place where Burning Man takes place. A big rocket is launched every few minutes. My son holds Kate while our friend arms his yellow rocket. Kate is the talking telemetry system that announces the altitude, speed, acceleration and position of the rocket while in flight.

I processed a balanced and a photographic HDR photo from a RAW exposure, blended them selectively, and carefully adjusted the color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/8.0, 55 mm, 1/1250 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC7054_hdr1bal1pho1e.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

We spent the last September weekend at Balls 29, a big experimental rocket launch event in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada - the same place where Burning Man takes place. A big rocket is launched every few minutes.

This group carries a rocket glider to the launch area. A rocket glider takes off vertically, powered by a rocket motor, then glides back down slowly under remote control.

I processed a balanced and a photographic HDR photo from a RAW exposure, blended them selectively, carefully adjusted the color balance and curves, and desaturated the image. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/8.0, 152 mm, 1/2000 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC6558_hdr1bal1pho1h.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

This is the beginning of the video I shot of the Space-X rocket lifting off from Vandenburg Air Force Base. This is also a frame grab from HD video, using my Samsung A35 smartphone. The gap suggests that the first stage booster had separated from the rocket and was drifting back to earth.

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Recently I joined Tripoli Central California's rocket launch event in a farm field at Helm, near Fresno, California. My rocket buddy Steve Jurvetson launched a high power rocket called Sledge Hammer. Steve climbed on a ladder to turn on the on-board electronics, then held his ear next to the rocket to hear the beep-beep-beep to verify proper operation. That's when I took the photo.

I processed a soft, a balanced, and a paintery HDR photo from a RAW exposure, merged them selectively, carefully adjusted the curves and color balance, and cropped the photo substantially to bring the sun glasses into focus.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC5214_hdr1sof2bal1pai1d

Eight!

Thirty!

Three!

We are now officially one day away from the scheduled 8:33am Monday (8/29) launch of the Space Launch System, Orion and the #Artemis1 mission.

Pic from Saturday morning during remote camera setup.

This is a single, 483 second exposure of the Falcon9 CRS9 rocket, launched (and landed!) at 12:45a on July 18, 2016 from CCAFS by Elon Musk and SpaceX. The streak to the left is the launch streak and then the straight line to the right shows the landing of the first stage of the Falcon9 rocket approximately 9 minutes after launch.

Most launch and landing streaks are a composite; this is a single image. Also, people ask why the clouds don't appear to have moved in the image, and the answer is simple: it's 12:45 in the morning, so with the exception of the moment that the rocket is passing through them, the clouds are not visible; it's night and therefore the sky is dark (the aperture setting is f22).

Also, this photo was chosen as NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) for July 21, 2016. More details on the launch available here: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160721.html

(Edited to add that this photo was published in the November, 2016 issue of National Geographic Magazine.)

Photo copyright Michael Seeley (me) / We Report Space.

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We spent a day in a big farm field near Helm, in the Central Valley of California. LDRS is a big yearly rocket event where people arrive from all over the USA. I also met a couple from Argentina.

Night launches are fun. By regulation, rockets need to have some kind of light source on the way up and down, usually LED lights or a strobe light. This is a drag race with low power rockets at night.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure, and carefully adjusted the color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate your critical feedback.

-- ƒ/1.4, 50 mm, 6 sec, ISO 400, Sony A7 II, Canon 50mm f0.95, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC0768_hdr1bal1f.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

SpaceX Falcon9 launches the Starlink 12-17 mission from LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center in front of a full moon

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Yesterday we went launching rockets at the Snow Ranch in the California Central Valley. It is a huge ranch with 3000 acres / 1200 hectares. The rocket launch is organized by LUNAR, the biggest rocket club in the USA. More than 200 people participated in the rocket launch. It was a perfect day enjoying yummy paella and launching rockets with no wind!

In this sequence a high power rocket with a sparky motor takes off. It made a nice rumbling sound.

I took RAW exposures in rapid sports mode. I processed them into balanced HDR photos, then tiled them to depict the launch sequence.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 3 RAW exposures, NEX-6, _DSC3435-9_hdr1bal1d

We spent the last September weekend at Balls 29, a big experimental rocket launch event in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada - the same place where Burning Man takes place. About 300 rocketeers gathered to launch high power rockets in the middle of the playa (dry lakebed). A few years back I did a photoshoot on the playa with this chair. Since then it became a tradition to bring our throne back to the desert every time we go.

A Jeff Bezos puppet sits in the chair. Our rocket buddy Erik Charlton put the puppet as a payload into a rocket. It came down ballistic, and buried itself into the soft ground. We measured with a wooden stick, the rocket with Jeff Bezos and Kate (the talking onboard computer) were literally 6 feet under (see photo essay in comments).

I processed a balanced and a paintery HDR photo from three RAW exposures, blended them selectively, and carefully adjusted the color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/8.0, 68 mm, 1/500, 1/2000, 1/4000 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 3 RAW exposures, _DSC6945_6_7_hdr3bal1pai5f.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

Early morning launch of Orbital ATK's Antares Rocket from NASA's Wallops Island facility taken from Oyster, on Virginia's Eastern Shore. This launch will use the Cygnus cargo freighter to resupply the International Space Station. Because of the length of the exposure you can see the stars trailing.

21May2018

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Prints available at: photosbymch.com

© 2018 M. C. Hood / PhotosbyMCH Photography - All rights reserved.

Last weekend we attended high power rocket launches at Friends of Amateur Rocketry, a private rocket launch facility in the Mojave Desert, California. I was invited to take photos of a test launch by a commercial rocket company on Sunday. On Saturday many student teams launched their rockets, and did static fire tests of rocket motors.

Students of the Stanford Student Space Initiative work on an ambitious project to launch a high power rocket from a weather ballon, eventually from 95,000 feet altitude. They tested a launch at the ground with a lightweight launch tower hanging from an industrial crane. The flight performed flawlessly. They plan to return to this launch site later this year for an actual rockoon (rocket + balloon) test, launching the rocket from a balloon at low altitude. The rocket is designed to fly through the balloon, e.g. it will pop the balloon.

I processed a balanced and a photographic HDR photo from a RAW exposure, merged them selectively, and carefully adjusted color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/6.3, 210 mm, 1/1600 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC1444_hdr1bal1pho1f.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

We went to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest near Bishop, California. It is home to the oldest trees in the world - some of the bristlecone pines exceed 4000 years of age.

We left after sunset. Driving into the beginning of the night I noticed a faint red line going straight up into the sky facing south. I stopped our van so that we could watch this unusual scene. The line turned into a red glow - at that time I knew it was a rocket launch. I suspected a SpaceX launch from southern California, but was not sure. The red glow turned into a white cone. The cone grew and grew to an enormous size - it's the ever expanding exhaust gases, illuminated by the sun.

Later on I found out that it was a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, launched from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base at 07:21 pm local time. It successfully delivered Argentina's SAOCOM-1A Earth-observation satellite to orbit.

I took this handheld shot with the f/0.95 Dream Lens. To get a sense of scale of the exhaust gases, the wide side of this image has about a 40° angle of view based on the 50mm lens on the full frame Sony A7 II camera. Assuming it is located at a 45° angle above the horizon, and the launch site is 220 miles away, I estimate that the exhaust gases cover a distance of about 300 miles, or 500 km! It was a jaw dropping event.

I processed a soft HDR photo from a RAW exposure, and carefully adjusted the color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive feedback.

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/0.95, 50 mm, 0.8 sec, ISO 1250, Sony A7 II, Canon 50mm f0.95, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC4063_hdr1sof3c.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

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We went to the Black Rock Desert for the Mudroc rocket launch event over the weekend. On Saturday Steve Jurvetson prepared the parachute of his fiberglass rocket called Warped Reality. We have nice clouds on Saturday, but it was too windy to launch. The launch on Sunday was perfect. The 12 feet rocket had a big N1560 motor and went supersonic, reaching over 19,000 feet in a few seconds.

The Black Rock Desert playa, aka dry lakebed, is a big open flat space, at least 7 miles in any direction. There is snow and water in winter and spring. The playa was dry when we went - the silica/gypsum crust cracked from losing volume when drying out. It contains shrimp eggs that lay dormant for long periods of time - the playa shrimps grow once the ground is wet.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC8687_hdr1bal1d

2, 40 second shots using a 10-stop ND filter. Stacked and processed in Photoshop.

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We are on the way to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada again. This time for the Mudroc rocket event organized by Aeropac. Can't wait to shoot and launch rockets again!

Last September we went to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada to attend Balls 24, a crazy rocket launch event with huge rockets. Some people call this event the Super Bowl of rocketry, others the Wild Wild West of rocketry. Over 300 people attended; there were teams from as far as England and Egypt. Many rockets were built in the garage from scratch, including the solid propellant for the motors.

Quite a number of rockets came down ballistic, either with some problems with the electronics, structural problems at high g-forces and supersonic speed, or parachute deployment problems. You gotta have balls to be there - the probability to get hit by a rocket is tiny but not zero.

This rocket had an excellent flight reaching over 100k altitude. I do not have any more info on this rocket. I took this shot the next day early in the morning at sunrise. You can see peeled off paint - battle scars - from the supersonic flight.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from three RAW exposures.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 3 RAW exposures, NEX-6, _DSC7433_4_5_hdr3bal1c

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy rocket carrying a critical payload for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) lifted off with the NROL-91 mission from Space Launch Complex-6 on Sept. 24 at 3:25 p.m. PDT. Photo credit: United Launch Alliance

This is also a frame grab from HD video, using my Samsung A35 smartphone.

If you look closely, you can see two bright tiny objects behind the payload and within the contrail. I think that is part of the remaining booster rocket breaking off and disintegrating in the upper atmosphere.

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket and Mars 2020 mission with the Perseverance rover sit on Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) at Cape Canaveral at sunset. Photo Credit: United Launch Alliance

Atlas V - Lucy - Titusville, Fl

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We spent a day launching rockets in a big farm field near Helm, in the Central Valley of California. As sunset approached I walked to a nearby railroad track, which looked abandoned. Some cars came back to the rocket launch area for night launch. If you look around with child-like curiosity you encounter unexpected things.

I processed a balanced and a smooth HDR photo from a RAW exposure, merged them, and carefully adjusted the color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate your critical feedback.

-- ƒ/6.3, 195 mm, 1/25 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC5822_hdr1bal1smo2h.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

We spent the last September weekend at Balls 29, a big experimental rocket launch event in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada - the same place where Burning Man takes place. About 300 rocketeers gathered to launch high power rockets. At night it's time to relax and socialize.

I processed a balanced and a realistic HDR photo from two RAW exposures, focus stacked them, and carefully adjusted the color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/0.95, 50 mm, 0.8, 2.5 sec, ISO 1600, Sony A7 II, Canon 50mm f0.95, HDR, 2 RAW exposures, _DSC2805_8_hdr1bal1k.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

From the Space X launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg AFB (California) on October 7, 2018. This is the separation of the rocket and booster, which are now headed in opposite directions.

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In September we went to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada to attend Balls 24, a crazy rocket launch event with huge rockets. Some people call this event the Super Bowl of rocketry, others the Wild Wild West of rocketry. Over 300 people attended, there were teams from as far as England and Egypt. Many rockets were built in the garage from scratch, including the solid propellant for the motors.

Quite a number of rockets came down ballistic, either with some problems with the electronics, structural problems at high g-forces and supersonic speed, or parachute deployment problems. You gotta have balls to be there - the probability to get hit by a rocket is tiny but not zero.

This is the rocket of James Dougherty's team, a shiny minimum diameter vehicle taking off on an big O motor. It should have achieved around 65k AGL, but was destroyed at around 25k (half way through motor burn) when the electronics deployed the drogue chute prematurely.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC7532_hdr1bal1i

We spent a weekend at Balls 28, a big experimental rocket launch event in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada - the same place where Burning Man takes place. A large rocket is launched every few minutes. The majority of the rockets are experimental, people often mix their own solid propellant. This is a two stage rocket, designed to reach high altitude. For scale, notice the car on the left.

I processed a balanced and a soft HDR photo from a RAW exposure, merged them selectively, and carefully adjusted color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/7.1, 145 mm, 1/2000 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC4154_hdr1bal1sof2e.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

I shot this image from the beach in Vero Beach which is about 65 miles south of Kennedy Space Center. The SpaceX Falcon 9 can be seen lifting the Crew Dragon into the cloud cover. The Dragon is carrying NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi. They will rendezvous with the International Space Station about 27 hours after launch.

Sep. 28, 2025: Starlink Group 11-20 launch at 7:04 pm from Vandenberg SFB, California.

We are just back from Balls 28, a big experimental rocket launch event in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada - the same place where Burning Man takes place. I took tons of photos. The majority of the rockets are experimental, around 20% fail, some in a spectacular manner.

This one is the biggest rocket launched at the event. It had a R motor. For scale, small hobby rockets start with A motors. From A to B you have double total impulse, e.g. twice the power. From B to C double again. So, an R motor is like 2^17 = 131,000 A motors. The launch was successful. However, something went wrong with the parachute deployment, and the rocket came down ballistic. We could hear a big boom far away.

I processed a balanced and a photographic HDR photo from a RAW exposure, merged them selectively, and carefully adjusted color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/8.0, 600 mm, 1/750 sec, ISO 200, Sony A7 II, Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC2632_hdr1bal1pho1d.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

I took this shot from the beach in Vero Beach, Florida this evening. SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 54 Starlink satellites. The first stage later successfully landed on the drone ship "Just Read the Instructions" which was out in the Atlantic.

We went to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest near Bishop, California. It is home to the oldest trees in the world - some of the bristlecone pines exceed 4000 years of age.

We left after sunset. Driving into the beginning of the night I noticed a faint red line going straight up into the sky facing south. I stopped our van so that we could watch this unusual scene. The line turned into a red glow - at that time I knew it was a rocket launch. I suspected a SpaceX launch from southern California, but was not sure. The red glow turned into a white cone. The cone grew and grew to an enormous size (see previous photo) - it's the ever expanding exhaust gases, illuminated by the sun. Later on, the big gas cloud became dimmer and dimmer, and you could see the rocket climb higher and higher into orbit. I took this handheld shot with the f/0.95 Dream Lens. It was a jaw dropping event!

Later on I found out that it was a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, launched from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base at 07:21 pm local time. It successfully delivered Argentina's SAOCOM-1A Earth-observation satellite to orbit.

I processed a soft HDR photo from a RAW exposure, and carefully adjusted the color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive feedback.

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/0.95, 50 mm, 0.6 sec, ISO 2000, Sony A7 II, Canon 50mm f0.95, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC4070_hdr1sof1j.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

At 2:04 am (ET) on Saturday, August 26, 2017, Orbital ATK successfully launch the ORS-5 satellite from Launch Complex 46 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The satellite was launched atop a Minotaur IV missile/rocket. Many Space Coast residents stayed up late (or got up early) to watch the launch.

This was the first time since 1999 that SLC-46 has been used. And, the last time a Minotaur rocket was launched was in September 2011. (Photo by Michael Seeley / We Report Space)

#SpaceX, Thursday morning: one #Falcon9 in flight and another Falcon9 in the Port getting ready to fly again.

Launched and landed 16 times:

At 11:58pm (ET) Sunday, #SpaceX sent a batch of Starlink satellites to orbit making Falcon 9 booster 1058 the new fleet leader with 16 (!) launches and landings.

Woke up at 3am to capture this rocket launch from Williamsburg, Va, which is 80 miles from the NASA Wallops flight facility. About 8 30 second exposures stacked.

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We spent a few days in the Black Rock Desert at Balls 27, the wild west event of high power rockets. People push the limits with their experimental rockets. There are experimental home-brew motors, speed and altitude record setting attempts, multiple stages and engine clusters. The general rule of thumb is to try to launch projects that are not legal anywhere else. Teams arrive from Japan, Austria, Argentina, and other countries.

This particular "ThreeCarbYen" rocket is built by Jim Jarvis, and has three stages, with a N5800 motor for the first stage, a N1560 for the second, and a M1401 for the third. The second stage has active stabilization. The sustainer (3rd stage) reached about 175K feet (53 km) altitude, learned after analyzing the data - the GPS stops working at about 160,000 feet! The reached altitude is half way into space - space begins at the Karman line at an altitude of 100 km.

I took this photo with a 600mm lens from a safe distance of 2 miles away. You can see some distortion caused by pockets of air that changes density quickly on hot days.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure, and carefully adjusted the color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive feedback.

-- ƒ/6.7, 600 mm, 1/500 sec, ISO 100, Sony A7 II, Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC3424_hdr1bal1h.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

I had heard about this launch in advance and wanted to photograph it from my patio, as we have an almost unobstructed view to the west. I set up in advance and the launch occurred at exactly 8:40 pm PT and appeared as a tiny red streak to the northwest. Then the streak became a larger white-ish streak heading south. Eventually this "fish" shape formed, and then the payload streaked to the south. In this image, a small white "something" can be seen in the exhaust, which is the first stage booster, which then flew itself to a drone ship sitting in the Pacific Ocean to the south. Amazing (although I still don't like EM - ha!).

From lower North Peak, Cuyamaca Mountains, San Diego County, California.

June 18, 2024

We spent the last three days at Balls 29, a big experimental rocket launch event in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada - the same place where Burning Man takes place. A big rocket is launched every few minutes.

The majority of the rockets are experimental, people often mix their own solid propellant. With this about 1/3 of the launches fail, some with a big bada boom. For safety, the bigger the motor, the farther away the launch. This launchpad is 1500 feet away from the rocket camp. Big rockets ascend 100,000 feet or more, which is 3 times higher than the cruising altitude of commercial aircraft. The fastest rockets reach Mach 5 (5 times the speed of sound, 3800 MPH, 6100 km/h), and pull up to 80 g.

The black smoke of this rocket is from a commercial Aerotech K850 "sparky motor”, burning bits of titanium sponge produce the sparks. My rocket buddy Steve Jurvetson has flown Vertical Assault many times, this time to 11'000 feet. He duct taped a camera to the rocket, you can see it on the left side about half way up. We recovered the rocket, it is now in our garage. However, the camera ripped off at high speed of up to Mach 1. We searched for a while but could not find it on the playa.

I processed a balanced and a realistic HDR photo from a RAW exposure, blended them selectively, and carefully adjusted the color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.

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-- ƒ/6.3, 210 mm, 1/2000 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC7514_hdr1bal1rea1g.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

SpaceX started Star Wars Day right, launching a batch of Starlink satellites at 3:31am (ET) on Thursday, May 4th.

This is the Falcon 9 rocket streaking across the sky seen from Palm Shores, Florida.

#maythe4thbewithyou

Thank you for visiting - ❤ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, get beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

Next Saturday we will go to the Snow Ranch in the California Central Valley east of Stockton to launch rockets. The event is organized by LUNAR, the biggest rocket club in the USA. My son just turned 18 and will attempt level 1 certification for high powered rockets. Anybody interested in joining us? This photo is from the January launch at Snow Ranch, showing a smoke trail of a high power rocket.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC3441_hdr1bal1e

Thank you for visiting - ❤ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, get beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

Last weekend we went to the Black Rock Desert for the Mudroc rocket launch event. Steve Jurvetson launched his fiberglass rocket called Warped Reality. The 12 feet rocket had a big N1560 motor and went supersonic, reaching over 19,000 feet in a few seconds. We found the lower fuselage quickly, then searched for the upper fuselage for quite some time. Almost giving up, my son suddenly spotted something orange way out. This is the hurrah moment after we retrieved it about 7 miles north near the Black Rock, seen in the background.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure, and carefully pulled the curves.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC9062_hdr1bal1c