An Atlas V rocket launching the SBIRS GEO-4 Satellite into orbit on January 19, 2018 at 7:48pm EST.
my first long exposure of a rocket launch, i wasn't aiming in the right direction to catch the start of the liftoff, so i had to adjust the camera and start it a little late into flight. for me, this is a very satisfying image. it represents where i live. the indian river, cape canaveral and the florida space coast. this is an Atlas V rocket launching a satellite into orbit at like 2am. the exposure here is somewhere around 160 seconds.
i was in south florida all day taking some pictures in sebring for an endurance race. on my way back home i decided to take a detour in vero beach, which is roughly 60 miles south of cape canaveral where this Delta IV rocket launched from. another long exposure here as a family watches among many others on this popular beach. the rocket goes out of frame, but so many other details linger. see the slight star trails, the ghosting of the people, the vapor trail...
a minotaur IV rocket launches a satellite into orbit in the early morning hours from cape canaveral air force station. seen from my usual vantage point about 20 miles away (now destroyed by hurricane Irma). this rocket has four separate stages, each burning for about a minute. notice the second stage coming on just before the rocket begins its arch as it travels down range. i got extremely lucky with this shot, if you notice how close the streak gets to the top of the frame.
SpaceX launches its rockets and then lands the boosters either on land or a on drone ship in the middle of the ocean. here is a falcon 9 rocket launching and landing back on land not too far from where it launched from. the first two photos at the top are the launch, the rest are the landing. note that the grey tower is not where it is landing, it was just in the way (this was my first time shooting from this location). unfortionately, this location is shut down indefinitely because of the damages sustained from hurricane irma).
A composite image of a Falcon9 rocket carrying the Koreasat-5A into orbit. There are 7 photos here, each exposed for 8 seconds while using a neutral density filter. The final product reveals the trajectory.
A SpaceX Falcon9 launching a secret payload only known as Zuma. This is a two photo composite, each exposure is around 90seconds. The left streak shows part of the launch while the top center shows a re-entry burn and then the right a landing burn. This was taken about 12 miles from the launch pad SLC-40.
