Congratulations, ! Early this morning, their Alpha rocket made it #ToTheBlack, reaching orbit for the first time. I tried for the Firefly version of my Atlas V fogbank shot, but an unusually large flight restricted area put me a distant 30 miles to the north.

Liftoff of the last west coast flight of the #AtlasV from Vandenberg SLC-3E. It carried the #JPSS2 weather satellite to orbit, and deployed #LOFTID, an inflatable re-entry vehicle demonstration. SLC-3E will now be upgraded to handle ULA's next generation Vulcan rocket.

Dispatch from south of the Antarctic Circle: Currently sailing on Quark Expeditions's MV Ultramarine, homeward bound after an incredible trip to visit #Antarctica. More later, but for now here's some Adelie #penguins hanging around Detaille Island.

A beautiful morning launch of the Starlink Group 2-6 mission, with D-Orbit's ION SCV009 "Eclectic Elena" as a rideshare. It was #SpaceX's 7th flight already this year, the 2nd from Vandenberg SFB, and the 7th flight of B1071. SLC-3 is in the foreground, undergoing some work.

About 90 minutes ago, the ghostly plume of the second stage of a #SpaceX #Falcon9 was visible over San Diego as the Starlink 5-7 mission made its way to orbit following its launch from Vandenberg SLC-4E.