The #Falcon9 #Block5 #Bangabandhu first stage returned to Port Canaveral this morning. Mary Ellen Jelen was present to well-document the return (along with many others) at 7am. I was able to swing by between meetings and by 11:20am (3-ish hours after docking) they had already moved the first stage off the drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You", seen here from the top of Exploration Tower at Port Canaveral. Note the VAB in the background. Also of note: moving the #SpaceX logo higher up the rocket to avoid charring during reentry seems to have worked well. (Pic: me / We Report Space)
CRS-15 by SpaceX - Final, final edits. Wow. Edit: Now that I'm at my computer, and the adrenaline has calmed (just a bit), I can properly describe this shot: this is a 277-second exposure of the #CRS15 #Falcon9 rocket launched by #SpaceX at 5:42am this (Friday) morning. The plume was illuminated by the rising sun, and it was just amazing. Details: ISO100, 277-seconds, f18 shot with a Canon 5D4 and a Rokinon 14mm lens. (Field edit from the roof of the VAB, pic: me We Report Space) — at Kennedy Space Center.
This was the pad shot I was hoping for: a wide view of the #SpaceX #CRS15 #Falcon9 rocket, with the very bright 98.5% illiminated (and one day post Full) Moon looking down on the scene. What I hadn't counted on was the enormous LOX cloud blanketing the ground. Initially I was a disappointed by the lack of definition in the foreground, but now it's grown on me. For reference, I used a cool, similar shot by Ben Cooper; this shot has certainly been done before, and Ben's shot is really great. Also of note, Bill Jelen did an amazing sequence, with the Moon marching toward the pad in 5-minute increments before the launch. And, no, this is not a composite. I realize the Moon looks like it was placed in the frame after the shot, but it really was that bright at the time of launch. (Photo me: We Report Space) — at Kennedy Space Center.
