AeroSpace | Range Tracking

Ranch Saturday: STS-126

2018/11/10 by terranovabay

STS-126 on a construction, resupply, and crew transfer mission to the International Space Station carried out by the Space Shuttle Endeavour launched from Kennedy Space Center at 7:55 p.m. on 14 November 2008 into a sky lit bright by the full Moon. This view is the full wide-angle image of the launch, which includes the Moon blown out at right by the long time exposure capturing the streak of the Space Shuttle’s flight as seen from a cow pasture at […]

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: Endeavour, Florida Cattle Ranch, International Space Station, ISS, Kennedy Space Center, NASA, Space Shuttle, STS-126, Treasure Hammock Ranch

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Kepler runs out of fuel

2018/11/06 by terranovabay

Spacecraft running out of fuel after many years of successful service seems to be the theme the last week or so. First it was the Dawn spacecraft out in the asteroid belt and, now, it is the Kepler spacecraft built to search for alien worlds around distant stars. I captured the launch of Kepler aboard a Delta 2 rocket from a lonely cow pasture late at night way back in March 2009 as seen below: Read more about the mission’s […]

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: Delta 2, Kepler Space Telescope, NASA

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Dusk For Dawn

2018/11/02 by terranovabay

From the 1 November 2018 NASA press release: NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has gone silent, ending a historic mission that studied time capsules from the solar system’s earliest chapter. Dawn missed scheduled communications sessions with NASA’s Deep Space Network on Wednesday, Oct. 31, and Thursday, Nov. 1. After the flight team eliminated other possible causes for the missed communications, mission managers concluded that the spacecraft finally ran out of hydrazine, the fuel that enables the spacecraft to control its pointing. Dawn […]

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: Asteroid, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Ceres, dawn, Delta 2, NASA, Vesta

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October 2018 Moon-Mars Conjunction

2018/10/23 by terranovabay

The Moon and Mars come together in the October 2018 sky, though they are nowhere near each other, it’s all just a close alignment for an observer on Earth at that date and time.

Categories: Astrophotography • Tags: conjunction, Earth, Mars, Moon

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AEHF-4

2018/10/17 by terranovabay

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launched the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) 4 communications satellite for the U.S. Air Force on 17 October 2018 at 12:15 a.m. from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station as seen here in a time exposure looking north over the Indian River Lagoon. Click to view my AEHF-4 launch gallery.

Categories: Rocket Launch • Tags: Advanced Extremely High Frequency, AEHF-4, Atlas V, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Indian River Lagoon, SLC 41, Space Launch Complex 41, U.S. Air Force, ULA, United Launch Alliance

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Hand Casts of Apollo Astronauts

2018/10/16 by terranovabay

From the interpretive panel at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex: Hand Casts of Apollo Astronauts International Latex Corporation – 1960s Hand and body casts were made to create custom-made spacesuits for each astronaut’s shape. A set of three suits with custom gloves were made for each astronaut; one to be used for training, one to be used for flight, and a third as a backup suit in the event of damage to one of the others. The hand casts […]

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: Apollo 11, Buzz Aldrin, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Michael Collins, Neil Armstrong, Spacesuit

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Telstar 18 booster returns to Port Canaveral

2018/09/17 by terranovabay

The SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage used for the Telstar 18 Vantage communications satellite launch returns to Port Canaveral on 12 September 2018 aboard the Of Course I Still Love You droneship that the booster landed on about eight minutes after launch a few hundred miles out in the Atlantic Ocean. Click to view a gallery of my Telstar 18 Vantage launch & booster recovery photos.

Categories: Rocket Launch • Tags: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, droneship, Falcon 9, OCISLY, Of Course I Still Love You, Port Canaveral, SpaceX, Telstar 18 VANTAGE

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Lightning around the launch pad

2018/09/16 by terranovabay

Lightning and rain around Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station delayed the launch of the Telstar 18 Vantage communications satellite aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for over an hour until the weather cleared allowing for lift off at 12:45AM on 10 September 2018. Click to view a gallery of my Telstar 18 Vantage launch & booster recovery photos.

Categories: Rocket Launch • Tags: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Falcon 9, Launch Complex 40, LC 40, lightning, SpaceX, Telstar 18 VANTAGE

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Telstar 18 VANTAGE

2018/09/15 by terranovabay

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the Telstar 18 VANTAGE satellite to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 12:45 a.m. on 10 September 2018. Following stage separation, the Falcon 9’s first stage landed on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. Click to view my Telstar 18V gallery of launch & booster return photographs.

Categories: Rocket Launch • Tags: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, droneship, Falcon 9, Of Course I Still Love You, SpaceX, Telstar 18 VANTAGE

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Specialized Ships

2018/09/14 by terranovabay

The SpaceX recovery ship Go Quest heads into Port Canaveral while in front of it is the U.S. Navy’s Expeditionary Fast Transport vessel named City of Bismarck. The Go Quest supports ocean landings of SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets on the autonomous spaceport drone ship, sort of a rocket landing pad on a barge, that is then towed back to Port Canaveral so the rocket can be refurbished and reused. In this case, the return of the booster on 12 September […]

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: autonomous spaceport drone ship, City of Bismarck, Expeditionary Fast Transport, Go Quest, Port Canaveral, U.S. Navy

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Range Tracking

Photography by Bob Montanaro

Category Archives: AeroSpace

Ranch Saturday: STS-126

Kepler runs out of fuel

Dusk For Dawn

October 2018 Moon-Mars Conjunction

AEHF-4

Hand Casts of Apollo Astronauts

Telstar 18 booster returns to Port Canaveral

Lightning around the launch pad

Telstar 18 VANTAGE

Specialized Ships

November 2018
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