I'll include the description here as it was a busy night of SpaceX related things. The picture I took and used as the thumbnail for the video is the most spectacular view of it. I didn't use a tripod and so the camera was really shaky. Another spectacular view from where we are in Tampa, about a mile west of Tampa International Airport, looking across the state at the SpaceX mission launching more Starlink internet satellites from Kennedy Space Center. It initially looked like a red dot. Once it was far enough away, the sun shining provided a spectacular view as Stage 2 continued on and Stage 1 fell back to Earth. Stage 1 eventually landed successfully on the drone ship. When there are launches shortly before sunrise, while it is still dark, but the sun is shining where the rocket is, you can get spectacular views like this. Filmed on May 6th, 2022. The launch was at 5:42am EDT. Sunrise in Tampa where I am was at 6:47am EDT. I muted some parts of the video where I was taking with people. SpaceX webcast of Starlink launch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzpVUXxdc68 This wasn't the only SpaceX activity that could be seen overnight. At 12:43am EDT four astronauts splashed down west of central Florida after having come back from the International Space Station. I didn't realize they were coming back west of me, I thought they were likely going to land south of the Florida panhandle. So I didn't try to see if I could see it. NASA tweeted at 11:51pm EDT this image of the trajectory: https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1522423859143757829 I saw a post on social media of pictures from the Gulf coastline of Pinellas County that showed the return. I also saw a picture from someone around the area, possibly around Tampa, that showed it just above some trees. But since it was low on the horizon, it wouldn't take much to block someone's view. I did however, because I am just west of Tampa International Airport, hear a helicopter brining the astronauts to Tampa International Airport. At about 3:18am EDT I heard the helicopter carrying the astronauts come over my house. (going over 100mph) From flight information online, the helicopter carrying the astronauts was a Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma (tail number N554AC). I could track it on Flight Aware: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/RAP705 A second helicopter that was circling the area around where they landed flew over me at about 3:54am EDT. Tracking for that helicopter: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/RAP761 The astronauts, at least the American ones, flew back to Houston on a Gulfstream V. The tracking for that plane was here: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/NASA5 It had been scheduled to take off at 4:29am EDT, but took off around 5:02am EDT heading north on the easternmost N-S runway. (so I didn't see it) At 4:43am the helicopter that had carried the astronauts flew back over my house to go back to the ship. At 5:53am EDT it flew over my house again and went back to the airport. I don't know if all four astronauts were on the first helicopter. There must have been at least three because the NASA plane bound for Houston had already taken off. There was a European astronaut as well that was to eventually return to Europe. I don't know if they were to do that from Houston or Tampa. So it's possible they were on the second helicopter. Or maybe they were flying some other crew to the airport from the ship. I don't know. SpaceX webcast for the return of astronauts from the ISS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e0uNnPh3pw I had emailed a few neighbors about the helicopters, and then about this launch too, and one had just checked their email so they came out while I was filming it. For launches that happen before sunrise, you can get this really spectacular effect. Anyone that is around the area in Florida, and some locations along the eastern seaboard, it's something to look out for. |