Old Rocket Scientists Don't DieThey Go to Florida to Watch Rocket Launches

This was a night launch of a Delta-IV with the next generation of GPS satellites. Needless to say, I set the shutter a bit too long, so it looks like day, but if you look closely you will see the exhaust plume in the middle of that bright spot in the sky.

We also saw the landing of the Space Shuttle Atlantis the day before, but I had left my telephoto lens in Germany, so all I have to show for it is a nice picture of blue sky with a speck that may as well be dust.

No, this time around I did not travel just to see a couple launches ... it is just a perk of having a place near the Cape. But one of the last two launches of the Shuttle will be a given ... and I will bring a telephoto for that.