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Credit & Copyright: Michael Seeley
Explanation:
Not the
James Webb Space Telescope's
latest view of a distant galactic nebula,
this cloud of gas and dust dazzled
spacecoast skygazers on March 3.
The telephoto snapshot was taken minutes after the launch of
a Falcon 9 rocket on
the
SpaceX Crew-8 mission,
to the International Space Station.
It captures plumes and exhaust from the separated
first and second stage, a drifting
Rorschach pattern
in dark evening skies.
The bright spot near bottom center within the
stunning terrestrial nebulosity is
the second stage engine firing to carry 4
humans to space
in the Crew Dragon
spacecraft Endeavour.
In sharp silhouette just above it is the Falcon 9
first stage booster orienting itself for return
to a landing zone
at Cape Canaveral, planet Earth.
This reuseable first stage booster was making its first flight.
But the
Crew Dragon Endeavour
capsule has flown humans to low Earth orbit and back again 4 times before.
Endeavour,
as a name for a spacecraft, has also seen reuse, christening retired
Space Shuttle Endeavour
and the
Apollo
15 command module.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: spacecraft
Publications with words: spacecraft
See also: