The International Space Station and its crew of 6, Oleg Artemyev, Commander Drew Feustel, Ricky Arnold, Sergey Prokopyev, Alexander Gerst and Serena Auñón-Chancellor, put in another appearance over the Space Coast tonight, in a brightly-lit flyover that began at 7:48 pm. It wasn't *that* dark out, and as you can see in this image, the Moon was very brightly lit, and it was cloudy. But, in spite of those photographic nuisances, the scene was quite beautiful. To accommodate the light, I was reduced to 6-second exposures, and this is a composite of 19 frames spanning 114 seconds as the ISS entered the Earth's shadow to the Northeast (it was lost in behind the clouds before then). This image was taken south of the Pineda Causeway (you can faintly make it out, frame left, complete with the red streaks from the passing traffic), looking roughly toward the Southeast across the Indian River toward South Merritt Island. Details: 19 x 6-second exposures, ISO500 and f8 taken with a Canon 5D4 and a Rokinon 14mm lens.

One year ago today, the mysterious and, I suppose, notorious "Cuki" washed ashore in Melbourne Beach, Florida. The 45-foot long sailboat broke free of its mooring in Key West during Hurricane Irma, and over the course of 10-days, the boat drifted north and was found beached at the Spessard-Holland Beach. Ian Gronsky was one of the first (perhaps even the very first) to document the wreck, and his shots (including of the lingerie-clad mannequins that were onboard) would go on to be published in the Wall Street Journal. The boat quickly became a bit of a tourist attraction and has been the subject of a number of my photos over the course of its time here on the Space Coast. I had planned on paying a visit to the decaying boat tonight, sort of an anniversary visit, and I was genuinely delighted to learn that the International Space Station would be available for a photobomb at 8:41 pm (ET) tonight, and I was able to time things accordingly. That's the streak in this frame, as the ISS flew from the SW to NNE, high and bright, coming within 488km of the Space Coast. Humans are riding in that streak of light, with a current ISS Crew of 6: Oleg Artemyev, Commander Drew Feustel, Ricky Arnold, Sergey Prokopyev, Alexander Gerst and Serena Auñón-Chancellor. It was cloudier than I had hoped for, and the rather bright Moon is out of the frame (behind me), but it cast a lot of light and was reflecting off the clouds. So, to deal with all the light, this is three 60-second exposures. I took more, but the clouds in the last two frames obscured most of the streak over the boat, so they're not included. For a look at the evolution (or, devolution) of the "Cuki," some of my photos (including the first photos I took one year ago on September 20, 2017) are here: flic.kr/s/aHsmiTYMnj Details: 3 x 60-second exposures, f5.6 and ISO500, shot on a Canon 5D4 with a Rokinon 14mm lens. Light edits were done in Lightroom, and the images were merged as layers in Photoshop.

This is the 73% illuminated Waxing Gibbous Moon of September 19, 2018. To the left of the Moon and low in the frame is something that looks like a stuck pixel but is instead the planet Mars, shining very bright, quite close to the Moon. This is a single exposure, with the saturation pushed quite a bit to bring out a bit more red from the pixel in this image that is the Red Planet. (Pic: me)

Fishing at #sunset. (Pic: me; Fisherman: unknown)

Woman making pictures at #sunset tonight, seen at Lake Washington in Melbourne, Florida. (Pic: me)

This is the image from the third camera I fielded for the #Telstar18V #SpaceX launch last Sunday evening, or, technically, Monday morning. Star trails with rocket streaks are kind of my thing, and when the skies began to clear up, I set up the Canon 7dII with a MIOPs intervalometer. I only had time for 10-ish minutes of trails, but I figured that would be long enough for the desired effect. The clouds were staying away, and everything was going fine, except for one thing: I forgot to adjust the camera settings for the streak. At about 30 seconds before T-0, I quickly programmed the intervalometer for a 280-second exposure but neglected to change the ISO and f-stop, causing the first few moments of the launch to drown the frame in blown-out white. The streaks in the foreground are from a couple who were camping in a tent (off frame, to the left), and they emerged shortly before the launch and meandered through the frame. You can see ghostly images of their legs, illuminated by the sea-turtle-rule-defying flashlight. I wasn't going to post this image, but we're only one week into a five-week break between Florida rocket launches, and signs of withdrawal are already starting to show. (From the DSM-5 "Rocket Launch Withdrawal Induced Obsessive Compulsion Disorders ('RLWIOCD')" section, "Symptom: The photographer regularly reviews photos of past rocket launches for unprocessed and/or unseen images.") Details: 13 one-second exposures, captured at ISO640 and f5 and one 280-second exposure, also at ISO640 and f5, captured using a Canon 7D2 with an EFS10-22mm lens, all driven by a MIOPs trigger.

The Saturday, September 15, 2018 #sunset as seen from Lake Washington in Melbourne, Florida. (Pic: Me)

Friday #sunset = the weekend begins. This was the scene at Lake Washington in Melbourne, Florida, complete with a gallery of spectators (right).

This is the #Telstar18V launch by #SpaceX, seen from Satellite Beach, Florida and captured on Kodak Ektar 100 35mm film. I fielded three different cameras for the 12:45 am Monday, September 10, 2018 launch, and for this shot, I simply opened the shutter about 10 minutes before the launch, and I closed the shutter as I was packing up, so I'd estimate the exposure time to be approximately 25-minutes in length. I started out at f11, but after a few test exposures on one of the DSLRs, I thought I'd need more light to bring out the foreground, so after 5 minutes or so, I covered the lens and turned the aperture ring to f9. (You can see the change in the star streaks -- they start thin, and at f9, they're thicker.) I remain a bit mystified as to why I didn't open the aperture AFTER the launch, as the rocket is blown out low on the horizon, but overall, I'm happy with the result. And, I'm particularly happy with the new (to me) lab that processed this frame: Miller's Professional Imaging was *very* responsive. From the time the film was received, it took them less than 120 minutes to process and scan the roll. I would have had this yesterday (as in, the day after the launch) if I hadn't missed the cutoff for UPS Next Day service. (Big thanks to We Report Space colleague Jared Haworth for the referral to Miller's; they're great.) Also, for your comparison, the same scene shot with a Canon 5D4 and an EF16-35mm lens is viewable here: flic.kr/p/29Qz9xo Details: ISO100, f11-f9 with a 25 minute exposure time on Kodak Ektar 100 film, shot with a Canon A1 and a Canon 24mm lens.

Just another day for @PortCanaveral and the Space Coast of Florida, as the #SpaceX drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" returns to port carrying the 1st stage of the #telstar18v #Falcon9 rocket, launched early Monday morning. Welcome home, #SpaceXFleet!

Just another day for @PortCanaveral and the Space Coast of Florida, as the #SpaceX drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" returns to port carrying the 1st stage of the #telstar18v #Falcon9 rocket, launched early Monday morning. Welcome home, #SpaceXFleet!

Just another day for @PortCanaveral and the Space Coast of Florida, as the #SpaceX drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" returns to port carrying the 1st stage of the #telstar18v #Falcon9 rocket, launched early Monday morning. Welcome home, #SpaceXFleet!

Just another day for @PortCanaveral and the Space Coast of Florida, as the #SpaceX drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" returns to port carrying the 1st stage of the #telstar18v #Falcon9 rocket, launched early Monday morning. Welcome home, #SpaceXFleet!

Just another day for @PortCanaveral and the Space Coast of Florida, as the #SpaceX drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" returns to port carrying the 1st stage of the #telstar18v #Falcon9 rocket, launched early Monday morning. Welcome home, #SpaceXFleet!

On September 8, 2018, the ML moved into High Bay 3 in NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will stay 7 months for fit tests. This is a version of my fish-eye shot, taken through 3 filters in COlor Efex4, the most notable one being the solarization filter. (Pics: Michael Seeley / We Report Space)

Weather? Other than a slight delay, the weather wasn't a problem at all for the #SpaceX #Telstar18V #Falcon9 launch from LC-40 at 45th Space Wing at Patrick Air Force Base, Fla.. I decided to try for a different shot tonight, something closer to home and wound up in Satellite Beach, Florida for a lovely view of the launch, seen here in a 5-minute exposure. Note the main engine cut off ("MECO"), the break in the streak. I did turn the camera toward the east to see if I could catch the landing burns, but I don't think I have anything usable in that frame. Pic: me / We Report Space

On September 8, 2018, the ML moved into High Bay 3 in NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will stay 7 months for fit tests. (Pics: Michael Seeley / We Report Space)

On September 8, 2018, the ML moved into High Bay 3 in NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will stay 7 months for fit tests. (Pics: Michael Seeley / We Report Space)

On September 8, 2018, the ML moved into High Bay 3 in NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will stay 7 months for fit tests. (Pics: Michael Seeley / We Report Space)

On September 8, 2018, the ML moved into High Bay 3 in NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will stay 7 months for fit tests. (Pics: Michael Seeley / We Report Space)