AeroSpace | Range Tracking

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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SLS ML at 39B – Part Two

2018/09/03 by terranovabay

Traveling at a top speed of .7-mile-per-hour, the mobile launcher made its inaugural trek along the crawlerway to Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39B for a quick fit check during late August and early September 2018. Key systems being checked out over the next several days include ensuring the water suppression systems align and the environmental control system that provides air and gaseous nitrogen purges to the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket through the umbilicals hooks up properly with the […]

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: Kennedy Space Center, Launch Complex 39B, Mars, Mobile Launcher, Moon, NASA, Orion, Pied-billed Grebe, SLS, Space Launch System, VAB, Vehicle Assembly Building

SLS ML at 39B – Part One

2018/09/02 by terranovabay

The mobile launcher (ML) is the ground structure that will be used to assemble, process and launch NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center for missions to deep space destinations, such as the Moon, Mars and beyond. The SLS, topped by the Orion spacecraft, will be stacked atop the mobile launcher while inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). Afterward the mobile launcher will be moved by the crawler-transporter over four […]

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: Kennedy Space Center, Launch Complex 39B, Mars, Mobile Launcher, Moon, NASA, Orion, SLS, Space Launch System, VAB, Vehicle Assembly Building

Launch Complex 26 over the years

2018/09/01 by terranovabay

The following images show historic Launch Complex 26 (LC-26) from site visits over the years to the Air Force Space & Missile Museum at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The gantry is undergoing a very long term restoration that began in 2005 and is still ongoing. Complex 26 is famous for being the launch site of the United States first satellite on 31 January 1958 to reach orbit, Explorer 1, which discovered the Van Allen radiation belts encircling the Earth. […]

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: Air Force Space & Missile Museum, Blockhouse, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Explorer 1, Launch Complex 26, National Historic Landmark, Redstone

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We Came In Peace For All Mankind

2018/08/31 by terranovabay

The plaque which the Apollo 11 astronauts left behind on the Moon, which was attached to the ladder on the landing gear strut on the descent stage of the Lunar Module. The plaque was signed by the three Apollo 11 astronauts and President Richard Nixon. (Photo Credit: NASA)

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: Apollo 11, Buzz Aldrin, Lunar Module, Mike Collins, Moon, Neil Armstrong, Richard Nixon

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Black Vultures at LC-34

2018/08/28 by terranovabay

Black Vultures atop some of the concrete remains of Launch Complex 34 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: Black Vulture, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Coragyps atratus, Launch Complex 34, SLC 34

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Into The Stars

2018/08/26 by terranovabay

An experimental image worked up from the launch of the Merah Putih communications satellite aboard a Falcon 9 rocket at 1:18 a.m. on 7 August 2018 shows the trajectory of the rocket in its flight but, also, making the stars more visible.

Categories: Rocket Launch • Tags: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Falcon 9, Indonesia, Merah Putih, PT Telkom, SpaceX, time exposure

Range Tracking

Photography by Bob Montanaro

Category Archives: AeroSpace

Telstar 18 booster returns to Port Canaveral

Lightning around the launch pad

Telstar 18 VANTAGE

Specialized Ships

SLS ML at 39B – Part Two

SLS ML at 39B – Part One

Launch Complex 26 over the years

We Came In Peace For All Mankind

Black Vultures at LC-34

Into The Stars

September 2018
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