Cygnus NG-15 Launch

Every now and then NASA sends a resupply payload to the International Space Station. Some of the missions launch from the Midatlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS). My wife and I sometimes go watch the launch when the date/time is convenient.

We usually drive to Chincoteague and park on/near the causeway that leads to Assateague Island. There's a good view from there to the launch site.

While it's fun to watch this, photography is hard. The pad is several miles away, visible in the distance. Even on a cold day (like yesterday) there is a haze that makes sharp photos impossible.

Launch

The atmospheric distortion can even make the rocket itself look bent.

Distortion

As the rocket climbs, the air through which I'm shooting is cleaner and less disturbed, but by then the rocket is farther away so it appears smaller. This is also when the noise of the launch finally reaches the causeway. The roar is not loud, but lasts a while, even as the rocket disappears.

Climbing

Eventually the rocket gets far overhead and fades away.

High Up and about to Disappear from View

I was ready for the cloudy contrail this time. But, there was no nice pretty trail to shoot.

Rocket Launch

This past weekend my wife and I went to Chincoteague to watch a rocket launch.

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, aka MARS, has a couple of launches per year, usually to the International Space Station. These are unmanned resupply missions. We've gone twice before to watch a launch. The first time was perfect: it was a night launch and we had beautiful weather. We arrived in town and were directed to the school parking lot. There, we caught a bus to the circle in town near the causeway that leads to Assateague Island. We, along with hundreds of other people, watched the launch that took place miles away. We had a great view over the coastal swamp and open water. The second trip was a bust. We stayed overnight, set up in frigid cold to watch, and the launch was scrubbed seconds before the target time.

This time the launch went on schedule. We got there a couple of hours early, parked on the causeway, and waited. It was chilly and sunny and clear. It was really cool to see the launch. The delay in hearing it was just as I remembered from the first launch that I witnessed. The pad is several miles away from the viewing area; it took time for the sound to reach us. The rocket was nearly out of sight before we heard the launch.

I'm disappointed with the pictures. It was hazy at ground level so sharp pictures were impossible. Even after it climbed I had a hard time getting sharp photos; it was just too far away. But I'll post them anyway.

Here's a shot just after liftoff, with the steam from the water that cools the pad creating a cloud on the left.

Just After Liftoff

 High in the sky, here you can see the two plumes from the two rocket motors. I darkened this one in post-processing to show the flames.

Plume

 The exhaust left a cloud that hung in the air for a little while.

Smoky Trail

Nearly out of sight, it looked like an airplane with a contrail.

Approaching Main Engine Cutoff

So I learned a few things. First, the advice I found on shooting this event said to underexpose a couple of stops because the rocket motors put out a lot of light. That turned out to be the correct advice. I also read that manual mode, f8, ISO 200, 1/1000 are good exposure settings. That also turned out right. I set up on a tripod with a gimbal head. Worked great. What will I do differently, if I ever do this again?

• Focus on infinity, tape the focus ring, forget about trying to focus. It's all happening at infinity. Forget the focus button, which I kept pushing out of habit.
• Have a second camera with a 70-200 lens ready to shoot the smoky trail. My 500mm lens was too much for that and I could only get part of it at a time.

Delmarva Trip

There was a scheduled launch from Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island to take place on November 11 at about 7:30AM. I had the 10th off from work, thus making this a long weekend. I decided to make it a road trip. My wife booked a room for us and I took a leisurely drive, stopping at Blackwater NWR on the way. Almost everything interesting at Blackwater was too far away to bother photographing. Even the huge swans were just white dots in the distance. I didn't linger because I needed to get to Chincoteague.

Ruddy Duck at Blackwater NWR

Well, the launch was a bust. With only a minute to go, an aircraft strayed into the no fly zone. I read later that the aircraft was at 500 feet and 6 miles off shore. What? Is that a drug smuggler? When I was learning to fly my instructor drilled it into me, altitude gives you options; stay close to shore so you can glide to land if the engine fails. This pilot was clearly on a different script.

I was all set up on the causeway between Chincoteague and Assateague islands, camera on manual exposure mode, exposure set to be somewhat dark to compensate for the expected bright fire of the rocket, and enduring the cold wind. They aborted the launch, and launched the next day after I returned home. Oh well, I took this trip knowing that these things happen.

Before the Launch that Didn't Happen

Later I drove to Assateague island and looked for birds. It was so uncomfortably cold and windy that I just wasn't having any fun and left after photographing a great egret and some gulls.

Gull on Assateague Island

Gulls

Gull

Ah, You're Interrupting my Nap

Great Egret