I don’t have much to say except WOW! But I guess I should tell the story behind this unusual photo (below) of the launch of Artemis in the wee hours of November 16 from Kennedy Space Center.
August 29, the launch was scrubbed. We got a very distant view of the Artemis moon rocket on the launch pad, shot from Cocoa, Florida.
After technical delays, the “go” for launch kind of caught us by surprise. All of a sudden we had ten minutes to leave the house and get into position for a launch. And my husband was still in his jammies.
He got himself sorted with me nagging him, and I drove us down to the riverside – technically, the Indian River Lagoon here in east-central Florida – and the Rockledge city dock. Given it was almost 2 a.m. now, I was kind of surprised to see it full of people.
I’ve always wanted to get that dock in a launch photo, and now seemed like an excellent time. But I had literally just a few minutes to set up. The moon was out, and of course, that had to be in my photo. After all, this rocket would be looping around the moon in preparation for future human spaceflights. And I thought the trees might make a fascinating foreground, IF it worked out. It’s kind of the opposite of what you usually want or seek in a time-exposure launch photo – a nice, clear view of the streak.
I enjoy finding interesting foregrounds. In this case, the foreground tells a lot of the story and evokes our town, our Space Coast. And the launch is still dazzling as the light streaks through the sky.
This was a very bright rocket. The rumble, which we’d expected to be thunderous, wasn’t all that. But the brilliant lighting provided by Artemis made this photo glow.
Click on the image to see a larger version.
