It was a good day to have a good day here in Florida, and that’s exactly what NASA, SpaceX and Crew 10 had today at Kennedy Space Center.
Falcon 9 lifted off, carrying three astronauts and one cosmonaut toward orbit and the International Space Station just as the sun was starting to set in the west. Some seven and a half minutes later, SpaceX booster B1090 completed its duty for the day by landing at LZ-1 in Cape Canaveral, 8.8 miles south of LC-39A.
Déjà vu all over again: SpaceX launched another 21 Starlink satellites from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station this evening. Liftoff was at 9:24 PM EST, with Falcon 9 taking the southeasterly familiar path towards The Bahamas as has been the case with all other Starlink Group 20 launches.
Far from being anachronistic and out of date, black and white photography is as it ever was: a timeless art form that continues to influence modern photography, retaining its importance in the modern era.
In the age of high-resolution digital color imagery at our fingertips, black and white photography remains a captivating and at-once surreal form of art. The absence of color forces both the photographer and the viewer to focus on composition, contrast, detail and the intricate interplay of light and shadow without the distractions of hue and color. Tone becomes replaces color, another way of saying ‘millions of shades of grey.’ Ironically, that’s just like life: millons of shades of grey.
And everything in between.
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 carrying Intuitive Machines second lunar lander, IM-2 Athena, on February 26, 2025. Liftoff was at 7:16 PM EST from LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center.
SpaceX completed a doubleheader today; not that many people close to the launch site saw it.
At 6:13 PM, Falcon 9 lifted off out of a gloopy fog at Launch Complex 39A and lofted the Maxar 4 / WorldView 5 and WorldView 6 satellites into orbit on the second successful mission of the day for the company. The rising rocket was seen up the east coast as far as New York City, but here locally, fleeting glimpses was the order of the day.
Note: this is a writing sample of my original text, first published on Florida Media Now on January 24, 2025.
In the world of aerospace engineering, even the smallest miscalculation can lead to catastrophic failure. And in the past few years, a phrase has emerged as a humorous way to describe those unfortunate events: “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” often shortened to RUD. This technical-sounding euphemism, often deployed in the aftermath of rocket explosions, has become a staple in modern spaceflight jargon, and is widely used when a rocket fails. But where did the phrase come from?
In a milestone for space exploration and commercial spaceflight, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket successfully lifted off from Launch Complex 36 at Kennedy Space Center on Thursday.
At 2:03 a.m. EST, the 320-foot-tall New Glenn finally roared to life after two holds and was propelled by seven Blue Origin BE-4 engines fueled by liquid oxygen and methane.
Spectators crowded the beaches and riverfront to witness the spectacle, as the rocket ascended gracefully into a cloudy sky obscuring a nearly full moon.
Everything appears to be ready at the launch pad for the maiden launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, but weather offshore has forced at least a two-day delay in the company’s first launch attempt of the 320-foot tall rocket.
The ECWMF forecast model is calling for 12-foot seas overnight tonight, as Blue Origin indicates in their post on X. On Sunday morning, things aren’t predicted to improve much, with 12-14 foot seas in the general vicinity of Blue Origin’s recovery vessel, Jacklyn and its support ship, Harvey Stone.
The now-deleted LME from the 45th Weather Squadron corroborates what the commercial forecast models are saying. The 48 hour forecast — for Sunday morning — is also calling for high seas:
For their part, the 45th will release a new LME forecast prior to Sunday’s attempt.
With those forecasts in mind, do not be surprised if Blue Origin is forced to shift New Glenn’s launch date to the right sometime over the weekend. On the other hand, it’s the weather, and it’s the ocean, two things that are well known to defy forecasts.
Stay tuned.
SpaceX launched another set of Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit today from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 aboard a Falcon 9. Liftoff was at 3:43 PM ET (2043 UTC) after several pushbacks in the window, presumably due to windy weather from an approaching cold front expected to arrive this evening on the Space Coast.
Around 8.2 minutes after liftoff, Booster B1077 successfully completed its 17th mission when it touched down offshore on ASDS ‘Just Read The Instructions’, which was positioned offshore near The Bahamas. Previously, previously launched Crew-5, CRS-28, Intelsat G-37, Optus-X, Immarsat I6-F2, GPS III-6, NG-20, and nine Starlink missions.
JRTI will now return to Port Canaveral, where the booster will be offloaded and returned to SpaceX’s Hangar X facility for inspection and any needed refurbishment prior to its next flight.
At 8:39 into flight, Falcon 9’s second stage and the Starlink payload achieved their initial elliptical orbit, which was rounded by a short second burn at the 54:03 mark of the mission. Payload deployment was one hour, five minutes and twelve seconds after liftoff, marking a successful end to SpaceX’s second mission in 2025 from the Eastern Range.
24 Starlink Mini v2 satellites, which will join Group 6 of Starlink’s orbital Internet connectivity constellation. Currently, there are over 6,900 Starlink satellites in orbit, according to Dr. Jonathon McDowell of the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
SpaceX plans to launch Starlink 12-11 from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.
After two previous delays, including an abort-at-ignition and a booster swap, SpaceX launched the ‘From One To Many’ payload for Astranis tonight from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral aboard Falcon 9. Liftoff was at 12:00 AM EST (05:00 UTC) under broken skies on the Space Coast.
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