The Ariane 5 launch vehicle liftoff for flight VA261 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on 5 July at 23:00 BST (6 July at 00:00 CEST). Flight VA261 carried two payloads into space – the German space agency DLR’s experimental communications satellite Heinrich Hertz and the French communications satellite Syracuse 4b. The flight is the 117th and final mission for Ariane 5, a series which began in 1996.

Credits: ESA - S. Corvaja

At 1:04am (ET) Sunday (July 13, 2025) SpaceX launched the Commercial GTO-1 mission, seen here from Cocoa Beach, Florida.

(Bonus: booster re-entry burn, frame right, far away over the Atlantic Ocean)

Today SpaceX joined other companies that had previously done the same, by using their Falcon 9 rocket, and the crew dragon, for an extravagant joy ride for a billionaire and his chosen companions. This is two images that I took and photo stacked to create a single image. In the image you can see the "twilight effect". This occurs when a launch is shortly before sunrise, or as in this case, shortly after sunset. The sun has set and it is dark, but the sun is still shining at the 60 to 90 mile altitude where the vehicle is flying. As stages of the rocket separate and fire their engines the sunlight is refracted by the gasses that are released, which creates amazing patterns of light in the sky. I took these shots from the beach at Sebastian Inlet State Park.

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Recently we went to the Moffet Federal Airfield at NASA Ames near Sunnyvale to launch rockets. LUNAR organizes this fun monthly event. This time however could have been the last time; Google leased the airfield from the federal government, and negotiations with Google to keep this tradition alive are ongoing. Knock on wood! LUNAR helped over 10,000 kids fly a rocket for the first time - this event really promotes STEM.

I asked a lady to take photos of me while I made our corkscrew rocket ready for launch. I am just kidding with the title, the wiring of the rocket is not rocket science - err, it is but it is not...

This home built rockets cork-screws on the way up and reaches about 950 feet on a G-motor.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC4803_hdr1bal1d

The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard lifted off at 07:47 CEST from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA on 16 November 2022.

The most powerful rocket ever built sent NASA’s Orion spacecraft and ESA’s European Service Module (ESM) to a journey beyond the Moon and back. No crew will be on board Orion this time, and the spacecraft will be controlled by teams on Earth.

ESM provides for all astronauts’ basic needs, such as water, oxygen, nitrogen, temperature control, power and propulsion.

Much like a train engine pulls passenger carriages and supplies power, the European Service Module will take the Orion capsule to its destination and back.

Credits: ESA - S. Corvaja

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On Saturday we went to launch rockets at the DairyAire event in the California Central Valley near Fresno. This event is organized by TCC (Tripoli Central California).

A space enthusiast brought along a soviet space suit. This suit was developed for Buran cosmonauts. Buran is the soviet equivalent of the Space Shuttle. The Buran looked nearly identical to the Space Shuttle, made its maiden space flight unmanned, then was scrapped. What a shame.

This space suit was designed to keep cosmonauts pressurized for several hours in case of a sudden loss in pressure inside the spacecraft - it was not designed for spacewalks. The visor on the helmet is double-glassed to prevent fogging in extreme low temperatures.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC7493_hdr1bal1e

Crowds turned out for the final flight of the #DeltaIV Medium rocket, seen here from Cocoa Beach.

This beautiful launch sent the #GPSIIISV02 “Magellan” satellite to orbit.

Congrats to Tory Bruno and the entire United Launch Alliance team!

(Pic: me)

The 100th rocket launch (so far) for the Space Coast this year sure was a pretty one.

That's a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a batch of Starlink satellites to orbit Thursday night at 10:39pm (ET) seen from Titusville.

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.

The majority of the rockets are experimental, people often mix their own solid propellant. With this, about 1/3 of the launches fail, sometimes spectacularly. For safety, the bigger the motor, the farther away the launch. Big rockets ascend up to 200,000 feet and more, which is 6 times higher than the cruising altitude of commercial aircraft.

Steve Heller and Manny Ballestero just finished prepping their rocket at a launch tower located 1500 feet from the camp. This rocket is relatively small, but is very powerful and reached Mach 5 (5 times the speed of sound, 3800 MPH, 6100 km/h), and pulled 80 g.

For the technically inclined, here is the description by Steve: "The rocket was built in a week as a flight characterization test of my new “Nose Candy” propellant developed for the Evolution Space vehicle. The rocket used the proprietary laminate-free fin bonding process I developed years ago, and have used with success since my hobby days - never had a failure, and this was the fastest test yet. Nozzle was carbon/phenolic composite, fully expanded. Propellant is an 87% solids pourable. The rocket has 3.5” outer diameter, is 6 feet long, weighed 31 pounds on the pad. Motor was roughly a 98% N7000 running a max chamber pressure of about 1600psi."

I processed a balanced and a paintery 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/6.3, 61 mm, 1/4000 sec, ISO 250, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC7163_hdr1bal1pai5g.jpg

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

Last year I was invited to take photos of a rocket launch at a private launch facility in the Mojave desert in Southern California by Evolution Space, a space startup. The team moved the 21 feet tall rocket from the workshop to the launch tower early in the morning before sunrise. The flight turned out to be their first space flight, reaching 125 km, and had a top speed to Mach 5.2. Congrats team!

I processed a photographic and a balanced HDR photo from a JPG exposure, blended them, 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/4.0, 41 mm, 1/4 sec, ISO 6400, Sony A7R II, FE 28-70mm F3.5-5.6 OSS, HDR, 1 JPG exposure, _DSC8840_hdrj1pho1bal1g.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2023 Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

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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. I took this shot while we prepared the rocket at the launch tower.

Below the rocket is an L-shaped blast plate; it is designed to deflect the exhaust gasses sideways so that they do not burn the ground. The blast was so forceful that it broke one of the two brackets of the blast plate.

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, and carefully adjusted the curves.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC8978_hdr1bal1d

What a beautiful start to 2020: the #SpaceX #Starlink launch, seen from Titusville.

Note the re-entry burn (low on the horizon) as this #Falcon9 rocket becomes a 4x flown & 4x landed booster.

(Pic: me / We Report Space, January 6, 2020)

Liftoff!!

At 11:50pm (ET) Saturday, #SpaceX sent a batch of 54 Starlink satellites to orbit atop a 15x launched & landed Falcon 9 rocket; the booster was recovered, making it a 16x flown booster.

This was the view from Port Canaveral/Exploration Tower.

(140-sec exposure)

The fourth Spacebus Neo satellite to benefit from ESA’s Neosat programme has launched into space on board the second Ariane 5 launch mission of 2022.

The 8.9 metre, three-storeys-high communications satellite – which will deliver high-speed broadband and in-flight connectivity across Europe for its operator, Eutelsat – weighs 6.525 tonnes and accounted for 99% of the 6.62-tonne launch mass.

Called Eutelsat Konnect Very High Throughput Satellite, it includes several innovative features developed under an ESA Partnership Project with satellite manufacturer Thales Alenia Space.

The satellite was launched at 23:45 CEST (18:45 local time) on 6 September from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, into a sub-synchronous transfer orbit. This highly elliptical trajectory, which loops from close to Earth to up to 60 000 kilometres away from the planet at an inclination of 3.5°, will enable it to transfer into a geostationary orbit some 36 000 kilometres above Earth.

After reaching geostationary orbit the satellite – the tallest ever built in Europe – will be tested further before it enters commercial service.

The satellite features new antenna deployment and pointing mechanisms used within the antenna tracking system, as well as other innovative features including next-generation batteries and structural panels, all developed under the ESA Partnership Project.

Credits: ESA / CNES / Arianespace / Optique vidéo du CSG - P. Piron

1. 18-mins of stars (36 frames)

2. 5 1/2-mins of rocket (1 frame)

3. 2-mins of stars (4 frames for 2nd stage & re-entry)

Result: This (hectic) image of the Thurs AM SpaceX Starlink v20 Falcon9 launch.

Details:

Stars shot at ISO 800, f5.6 and 30-secs, and the rocket streak is ISO100, f18 and 330-secs.

Good morning, Space Coast, this is your 5:42am wake-up call.

That's a SpaceX Falcon9 rocket lifting another batch of Starlink satellites to orbit, with bonus "space jellyfish," a beautiful display this Friday morning.

(ߓ纭e from Cocoa Beach, Florida)

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Recently 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.

This is what you get when many rocket enthusiasts gather.

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/4.5, 55 mm, 1/4000 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC5646_hdr1bal1f.jpg

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

Liftoff!!

At 12:30am (ET) Friday, #SpaceX launched (another) Falcon 9 rocket, this one carrying the IS-40e satellite for Intelsat and the TEMPO payload for NASA.

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In a week we'll go to 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!

This is a photo from June this year when 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 level 3 rocket had a big N1560 motor and went supersonic, reaching over 19,000 feet in a few seconds. I took this shot while Steve, his son and my son put the rocket on the launch rail.

Here is a video of this rocket launch: bit.ly/29sJkjh

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, _DSC8973_hd1bal1b

Well, I have finally posted this year, and I felt it would be fitting to make it of something that I have been meaning to capture for a while - a nighttime launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 from my backyard. I specifically wanted a Starlink launch because I was able to predict its flight path after seeing so many of their launches. After Starlink 17 kept getting delayed, Starlink 18 moved up in the schedule and launched at 1:19 am EST from LC-40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on a stunningly clear night. Despite being about 45 miles away from the launch site, the rocket was still able to light up the night sky. While I had class at the crack of dawn, and it was very cold night, staying up and braving the weather for this launch was totally worth it. Sorry for being inactive, but I have been busy with school and work, but hopefully I will be able to post more!

Antares launch from NASA Wallops on April 17.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying the cargo version of the Dragon 2 spacecraft, lifting off from Cape Canaveral. This photo was taken from Vero Beach, FL which is about 70 miles south of the launch sight. The Dragon 2 will dock with the International Space Station bringing supplies and scientific equipment.

12:01am (ET) Friday, July 28, 2023: Starlink 6-7 took flight, the 50th launch this year for #SpaceX and the 15th launch for this Falcon 9 booster.

This was the view from Cocoa Beach, Florida; considering how rainy today has been, it was a real delight to see.

Liftoff!!

The thunder held off for #SpaceX to bring its own thunder to the Space Coast w/ the 8:50pm (ET) launch of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a batch of Starlink satellites to orbit; 8-mins later the 1st stage was recovered.

(ð·: me /

@WeReportSpace

)

While I took this photo I was urgently fiddling with my phone trying to figure out what the UFO was. Turned out it was a rocket launch from Poker Flats, more than a hundred miles to the north of me. Definitely added some extra sparkle to the sky!

Poker Flats: www.pfrr.alaska.edu/

This long exposure shows the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launched this morning (Tuesday, December 7, 2021) from CCSFS. The STP3 mission carried a national security payload and the LCRD payload for NASA.

This image is notable because of the white cloud to the right of the streak. The launch time was at 5:19am (ET). Sunrise wasn't until 7:01am, but the rocket was traveling nearly due East from the Space Coast, so eventually, when the second stage plume hit sunlight (combination of altitude and distance traveled toward the Sun), the plume lit up. It could be seen in Palm Shores, Florida, 25-ish miles South of the pad.

This image is a composite of 2 images captured consecutively, the first for the streak (258-seconds) and the second for the plume (121-secs at a higher light sensitivity). The images were combined as layers into one single image.

This never gets old: SpaceX just launched & landed another Falcon9 rocket; their 27th launch of 2021, the 129th Falcon9 launch overall, & the 9th trip for this particular booster (tonight carrying Starlink sats).

(Pic: me / We Report Space)

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We spent this weekend on the playa of the Black Rock Desert in Nevada where we attended Mudrock, a three day rocket launch event organized by AeroPac.

My son is turning off the on-board camera of his 9 feet tall high power rocket after a successful flight, while being watched by the camera. I think it is a funny meta shot.

Update: Here is a video compilation of this launch.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from a GoPro frame grab.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 exposure, GoPro, l2-gopro18a_hdr1bal1b

Just a few minutes before liftoff of the Northrup Grumman Antares rocket from the Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Wallops Island, VA a pair of bald eagles decide to vacate the area. There is a considerable amount of heat being generated from the launch site creating atmospheric distortion of the rocket and water tower.

www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/northrop-grumman...

DSC_5621-005

Liftoff!

At 3:13am (ET) Thursday morning, a #SpaceX #Falcon9 rocket sent a batch of #Starlink satellites to orbit, seen here from CCSFS.

It was a lovely night, clear enough to see the reentry burn over the Atlantic.

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Yesterday I joined Tripoli Central California's rocket launch event in a farm field at Helm, near Fresno, California. My rocket buddy Steve Jurvetson in the back and his friend Dean carry Steve's high power rocket called Sledge Hammer to the far away launch pad. It has an M class motor, which requires a level 3 certification to launch the rocket, the highest in amateur rocketry. The flight was flawless; on landing it luckily missed a water ditch by a few meters. Two video cameras were on board, and one next to the launch pad.

Video of this rocket launch: bit.ly/2qRDxLZ

More photos of this rocket on Facebook: bit.ly/2qOCZ5q

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

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC5191_hdr1bal1d

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

Today we went to a rocket launch event in the California Central Valley in a big field near Fresno. This is my son's 9 feet tall rocket taking off at dusk, 20 minutes after sunset. The rocket has a sparky motor, the sparkles are burning titanium flakes.

Some info for rocketry enthusiasts: The October Skies event was organized by Tripoli Central California (TCC). The rocket flew on a K815 sparky motor, reaching 4.3K feet, with dual deployment, and two flight computers for redundancy. We were in a hurry to get the rocket ready, so did not put in the GoPro and GPS. The big parachute made it easy to spot the rocket on the way down. We walked about half a mile in that direction and found it immediately.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC8556_hdr1bal1h

The ESCAPADE Blue Origin New Glenn launch is still , so much so that I might be turning into a Blue stan account.

I would like to respectfully request of Blue Origin that future New Glenns only launch during the day...it's a magnificent rocket, and the pad is in such a great place for pretty much anyone to have a good view.

Postscript: For those doubting this photo, I'm shooting with a Canon USA RF200-800mm lens .5 miles south of Jetty Park, and that's the packed jetty in the foreground, 4-secs before the cruise ship rolled into the scene. And, read about "lens compression" if you're still wondering whether this has been photoshopped or not. (It hasn't.)

The 1st launch of 2021 sure was a pretty one. This is the SpaceX Turksat5A rocket, seen in a 180-sec exposure from Palm Shores, 25-ish miles south of Cape Canaveral.

(Bonus: Birb)

Pic: me / We Report Space

We joined a rocket launch event at the Snow Ranch, located in Central Valley of California, 2 hours east of the San Francisco Bay Area. The ranch owner graciously offers their land for monthly rocket launches, organized by LUNAR, the Livermore Unit of the National Association of Rocketry. We had Swiss style brunch with a view. Later on we launched our cork rocket, seen behind the table. When people came to look I was joking that this is the most expensive rocket on the field -- it's all made out of wine corks.

I processed a photographic, a balanced, and a paintery 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/6.7, 28 mm, 1/1000 sec, ISO 200, Sony A7 II, FE 28-70mm F3.5-5.6 OSS, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC6139_hdr1pho1bal1pai5i.jpg

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

ESA’s latest interplanetary mission, Juice, lifted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French 09:14 local time/14:14CEST on 14 April 2023 to begin its eight-year journey to Jupiter, where it will study in detail the gas giant planet’s three large ocean-bearing moons: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.

Juice – Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer – is humankind’s next bold mission to the outer Solar System. This ambitious mission will characterise Ganymede, Callisto and Europa with a powerful suite of remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments to discover more about these compelling destinations as potential habitats for past or present life. Juice will monitor Jupiter’s complex magnetic, radiation and plasma environment in depth and its interplay with the moons, studying the Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giant systems across the Universe.

Following launch, Juice will embark on an eight-year journey to Jupiter, arriving in July 2031 with the aid of momentum and direction gained from four gravity-assist fly-bys of the Earth-Moon system, Venus and, twice, Earth.

Flight VA260 is the final Ariane 5 flight to carry an ESA mission to space.

Find out more about Juice in ESA’s launch kit

Credits: ESA - M. Pédoussaut

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Last month we spent 3 day in the Black Rock Desert to attend Balls, the Wild West event of rocketry, with large and dangerous rockets. My son got invited to help prepare the most spectacular rocket, a two stage rocket that was designed to reach 200,000 feet altitude. I was invited to be the official photographer. Due to dangerously large motors, this rocket's launch pad was 3 miles away from the camp. Only a few people could see the preparation and launch up close.

The crew raises the rail with rocket upright.

Spec of the rocket:

- two stage rocket built by Jim Jarvis from Texas

- total weight of rocket 250 lb

- booster (first stage) has a P motor built by Stu Barrett

- sustainer (second stage) has an O motor, made by CTI

- electronics: Stratologger, live flight status update by Kate

The booster flight was nominal, The sustainer flight was initially nominal, then Kate announced an anomaly at 40K+ feet altitude - the sustainer shredded at Mach 3.7. The booster was recovered successfully.

Cause of anomaly: Premature detection of booster burnout, the sustainer separates early while the booster was still burning. The booster passes the sustainer while still burning; and both collide twice in midair. Here is a short video of this launch.

What a project! Kudos to Jim, Stu and team for the achievement, even though it did not go as planned! As we all know from SpaceX, rocketry is hard. Jim had a multi page checklist, and everything was done very methodically. Hats off!

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, _DSC3497_hdr1bal1e

ESA’s new Vega-C rocket lifted off for its inaugural flight VV21 at 15:13 CEST/13:13 UTC/10:13 local time from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. With new first and second stages and an uprated fourth stage, Vega-C increases performance to about 2.3 t in a reference 700 km polar orbit, from the 1.5 t capability of its predecessor, Vega. For flight VV21, Vega-C’s payload is LARES-2, a scientific mission of the Italian space agency ASI and six research CubeSats from France, Italy and Slovenia.

Credits: ESA-CNES-Arianespace/Optique video du CSG - S Martin

That wasn't thunder, Space Coast - SpaceX just launched 58 Starlink satellites and 3 planetlabs satellites atop a Falcon9 rocket at 5:21am (ET).

This was the scene from Titusville and the A. Max Brewer Bridge.

(Pic: me / We Report Space)

On Saturday I helped out at a low power rocket launch event at the Moffett Federal Airfield at NASA Ames, located in the Silicon Valley. This event organized by LUNAR typically draws a few hundred participants. Tony, the LCO (Launch Control Officer) briefs the participants at the beginning.

I processed a balanced and a photographic HDR photo from a RAW exposure, merged 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/9.0, 56 mm, 1/500 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC6658_hdr1bal1pho1d.jpg

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

A ULA Atlas V rocket as it lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying a US Naval satellite. June 24, 2016.

Merged image of two long exposures of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch on July 27th, 2023. If you look closely you can see where the two boosters separated from the core vehicle as it continued on its flight path. You also see two streaks of light where the boosters fired their engines to slow their descent and a streak of light near the horizon as the engines fired again as they both landed safely back at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The image was taken from Vero Beach which is 63 miles (101 kilometers) south of the launch site. This was the third flight for both boosters.

Thank you for visiting - very much appreciated! Press "F" if you like it & add your impressions as a comment!

The "Light Show" rocket came in ballistic on Friday night - see previous post. The 7 feet rocket buried deep into the playa of the Black Rock Desert. Only the tail with fins and a few LED light strips remain above ground, with small shrapnel lying around the point of impact. Such a bummer! The owner spent many many hours building this rocket, poor guy! Well, failure is part of rocketry.

I took this exposure shortly after sunrise. The playa material is gypsum. It is kind of soft, so you can easily see tire tracks. At high speeds it feels like driving on snow.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from 2 RAW exposures.

-- Order beautiful HDR prints at bit.ly/orderHDR

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 2 RAW exposures, NEX-6, _DSC7294_6_hdr2bal1c

Shortly after launch on 14 April, ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, captured this image with its Juice monitoring camera 2 (JMC2).

JMC2 is located on the top* of the spacecraft and is placed to monitor the multi-stage deployment of the 16 m-long Radar for Icy Moons Exploration (RIME) antenna. RIME is an ice-penetrating radar that will be used to remotely probe the subsurface structure of the large moons of Jupiter.

In this image, RIME is seen in stowed configuration. It will be deployed in stages over the coming days.

The image was taken at 14:19 CEST. JMC images provide 1024 x 1024 pixel snapshots. The images shown here are lightly processed with a preliminary colour adjustment.

More information and images.

*Additional technical information: "top" means +Z side of the spacecraft and the centre of the field of view of JMC2 lies roughly in the XY plane. The -Z side of the spacecraft is attached to the launcher, which rotates around the Z axis during the ascent phase.

Credits: ESA/Juice/JMC, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Good morning, Sun, and good morning, #Falcon9!

This is the #SpaceX #Starlink rocket, passing in front of the Sun, seen Wednesday morning from Titusville, Florida.

The first Meteosat Third Generation Imager (MTG-I1) satellite lifted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on 13 December at 21:30 CET.

From geostationary orbit, 36,000 km above the equator, this all-new weather satellite will provide state-of-the art observations of Earth’s atmosphere and realtime monitoring of lightning events, taking weather forecasting to the next level. The satellite carries two completely new instruments: Europe’s first Lightning Imager and a Flexible Combined Imager.

MTG-I1 is the first of six satellites that form the full MTG system, which will provide critical data for weather forecasting over the next 20 years. In full operations, the mission will comprise two MTG-I satellites and one MTG Sounding (MTG-S) satellites working in tandem.

Credits: ESA - M. Pedoussaut

SpaceX just sent another 52 Starlink satellites to space atop the 35th Falcon9 launched this year.

This was the very pretty view from Port Canaveral. (Bonus points if you can spot the "flight-proven" Falcon 9 booster, waiting for processing, probably watching the launch.)

One side note: I've had the Exploration Tower on my mind since last night, after briefly catching a glimpse of it in the 2nd to last Better Call Saul, as Kim (played by Rhea Seehorn) is driving to work.

It seemed like a nice foreground for the launch tonight.

Thank you for visiting - very much appreciated! Press "F" if you like it & add your impressions as a comment!

I am currently at a high power rocket event at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. I am uploading this photo via a satellite link, slow but nice to be able to upload a photo!

Last night, a very cool rocket called "Light Show" was launched with hundreds of LEDs. The LEDs slowly change the colors. On this shot, the owner signs off this rocket before launch. The flight was initially good, but the parachute did not deploy, so the rocket came down ballistic like a missile with a hissing sound. It buried deep into into the ground near the flight line (line of RVs). Failures happen, it's part of rocketry.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure.

Later:

I am back home. The image upload in the desert failed with a Flickr based timeout - the connection was too slow. I uploaded the same image also to Facebook, which succeeded via satellite link.

-- Order beautiful HDR prints

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC7094_hdr1bal1b

Liftoff!!

At 9:56pm (ET) Thursday night, SpaceX launched the Nusantara Lima mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, seen here from Port Canaveral and the Exploration Tower.