Interesting Photo of the Day: Atlas V Launch Over the Beach

Interesting Photos

Spaceflight captivates large audiences because of the cost, danger, and excitement involved. Each launch requires the intense attention to detail carrying over from the work done during the months and often years prior. A photograph such as this displays the wonder and spectacle of each successful launch. The beautiful launch arc is a testament to the hard work of everyone involved in this project and finally, the attention to detail by the photographer capturing it:

“Long Exposure of Tonight’s Atlas V Launch of NASA/NOAA’s GOES-R Weather Satellite” by John Kraus (Via Reddit. Click image to see full size.)

Photographer John Kraus lives on Florida’s Space Coast and often captures rocket launches like this one from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. He used a Nikon D7100 camera with a Tokina 11-20mm lens. His manual settings for this 182 second exposure were 11mm lens length, f/14, and ISO 100. He made only minor edits in Lightroom with this photo, as the magnificence already showed in the trail behind the weather satellite. Kraus plans his spots carefully to best capture the projected arc of the launch. In this case he chose the nearby Playalinda Beach north of the launchpad.