Beaches and launch pads

I'm on vacation in Florida and I decided to scout out some possible viewing locations for my next Florida vacation during a Space Shuttle launch. This beach is Playalinda beach north of KSC in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Looking south in this image shows the LC39A launch pads just over the dunes off the beach on the right side of this image. Not sure if this area would be open during a launch, though, but it would be a great area as the shuttle climbs out towards the northeast off the launch pad. This image was taken with the kit lens at 55mm focal length with an exposure of 1/250 seconds at f/6.3, ISO 100 with a circular polarizer.

Apollo Soyuz Test Project - Apollo Capsule

This Apollo capsule (the CM in CSM-111) was originally slated to fly the Apollo 18 mission to the Moon, but after that mission was canceled, it was reassigned to the fly the Apollo Soyuz Test Project which happened 35 years ago this month (the Apollo & Soyuz docked on July 17, 1975 and undocked on July 19). Commanded by Tom Stafford with Mercury 7 astronaut Deke Slayton and Vance Brand, the Apollo rendezvoused and docked with Soyuz 19 commanded by Alexei Leonov with Valeri Kubasov as his Flight Engineer. The ASTP Apollo capsule can be found in the California Science Center. You can see a replica of the Cassini spacecraft that still orbits Saturn in the background. This image was taken with the kit lens at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/40 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 400.

Mercury Redstone 2

Here is another spacecraft at the California Science Center. This is the Mercury capsule that carried the first hominid into space (an immigrant American, BTW) on January 31, 1961, about 2 and a half months before Yuri Gagarin's spaceflight. The Mercury Redstone 2 carried Ham, a Chimpanzee on a suborbital flight that paved the way for Alan Shepard (the 2nd American in space...) 4 months later. This image was taken with the kit lens on my 20D at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/160 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 400.

The view inside the capsule shows the capsule within the capsule that Ham rode in during his flight. This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/100 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 400.

Iridescent clouds

Pretty sunset tonight with iridescent clouds above the setting sun. You can also see a crepuscular ray coming up from the sun going across one of the most prominent of the iridescent clouds. This image was taken with the kit lens at 55mm focal length with an exposure of 1/1000 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 100.

The Hatch

I found the Apollo Command Module from the Apollo Soyuz Test Project at the California Science Center. Being the Apollo Geek that I am, I started taking closeup pictures of every part of the machine that I could get close enough to. This is part of the hatch mechanism. This image was taken with the kit lens at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/20 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 400.

There goes the sun du'n do do...

Can't help singing my 2nd favorite George Harrison tun with the alternate lyrics as our nearest stellar neighbor sinks slowly below the waves.... This image was taken with the kit lens at 55mm focal length with an exposure of 1/60 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 100.