Headed to the Cape yesterday to observe and attempt to photograph the second ever Falcon Heavy Launch, the worlds most powerful rocket with an Arabsat Communications Satellite. It was scheduled to go on Wednesday evening but upper level winds cancelled the launch. We, along with thousands of other, were on the Titusville causeway near the entrance to the Canaveral NWR, which was totally closed for the launch. Launch pad 39 is one of the more northerly pads and we were about 10 miles away from the launch site. Liftoff was 1836 and the countdown went according to plan, perfect.
SPECS; Falcon Heavy is the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. With the ability to lift into orbit nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 lb), a mass greater than a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage and fuel....first stage is composed of three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft. Only the Saturn V moon rocket, last flown in 1973, delivered more payload to orbit.
What was really amazing is the last picture, two of the three boosters from the Falcon Heavy landing back at Cape Canaveral on specified pads (about 13 miles for my position). The center booster landed on its pad further down range....All in all, a beautiful launch and recovery.
Absolutely amazing, thank you!
tommy2 wrote:
Absolutely amazing, thank you!
You're more than welcome Tommy, photos aren't great (distance and ability got in the way)... but the experience was fantastic.
Someday I'll get to see one of these.
alberio wrote:
Someday I'll get to see one of these.
I hope you do alberio, its always great in person....when an event like this is scheduled, prepare to fight the exiting traffic. On Wed evening when it was cancelled, it took us over an hour to just get off the causeway...However, its always worth it, make a party out of it...
Thanks Harold, it was an beautiful day, warm (82 degrees) with a 10-12 mph breeze, another great day for a launch.
gwr wrote:
Outstanding set!! Gary
Thanks Gary, appreciate the comment.
Really nice photos. I took some of the heavy lift from Vandenberg AFB a couple months ago. Yours are better.
Retired CPO wrote:
Really nice photos. I took some of the heavy lift from Vandenberg AFB a couple months ago. Yours are better.
Thanks Chief appreciate the comments. Getting close to one of these launches is difficult even if you take the Cape Tour and purchase seats, you're still miles from the launch site. The causeway where we were was probably about as close as anyone could get w/out being on the complex...still I'm sure many got better photos than I did, I saw some HUGE Fixed lenses out there...
Cheers!
Very cool. And I do love the last with the two coming back home. The story makes your photo better!
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