Best rocket launch pictures (and stuff)

My favorite Photos of Stuff, specifically rocket launches.

OA6 AtlasV rocket launch by United Launch Alliance
This is the RD-180 rocket engine pushing the #‎OA6 #‎AtlasV #‎Cygnus rocket, launched by United Launch Alliance.
OA6 AtlasV rocket launch by United Launch Alliance
What do you do when you've got a 160+ image time lapse sequence that was invaded by clouds? You stack them anyway, obviously.   This "Frankenstein" of an image is the result of a sequence I started nearly immediately after arriving at the media viewing area. I let the sequence run until just before the launch of the #OA6 #AtlasV. (A quick note to thank the #NASASocial group standing near me for not bumping the tripod, and my apologies to all around me for the constant beeping of the shutter release as it counted the seconds...)   So the first shot was taken at 9:58pm (ET) and it ran (with only one or two breaks to check exposure - the moon was really bright) until 10:59pm, just 6 minutes before the rocket would launch (at the very start of the window - thank you ULA). Each shot is a 20 second exposure at ISO200 and f6.3.  I took 2 test shots at 11pm (not included) and then the last frame is the streak, shot at 11:05pm: a 163 second exposure of the AtlasV rocket carrying the OA-6 ISS resupply Cygnus capsule, launched by United Launch Alliance for Orbital/ATK.  Minimal adjustment to the images were done in Lightroom, and the stack was done in Photoshop.
Long exposure streak of the OA6 AtlasV launch
About an hour before the OA6 AtlasV would launch, I started a time lapse sequence with the intention of getting a star-trail sequence and then the streak of the rocket, but clouds started moving in, and effectively obscured most of the stars. However, during the sequence, a very bright shooting star / meteor shot across the sky to the east of the pad. The streak was captured by the time lapse. So this is a merge of two images. The first image is a 20 second exposure, one of the time lapse frames, and through a break in the clouds you can see the streak of the meteor. The second image is a 163 second exposure of the AtlasV rocket carrying the OA-6 ISS resupply Cygnus capsule, launched by United Launch Alliance for Orbital/ATK.

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