Posted by Theresa Wiegert in Today s Image |
April 30, 2021
Within hours of each other, one rocket left the Earth on April 28, 2021, and one cargo space ship returned on April 29 – via a planned destruction during re-entry – after having been attached to the International Space Station for a year.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | John Merriam in St. Augustine, Florida, captured this photo of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch on April 28, 2021. He wrote: “I was skeptical I’d get much with a long exposure and the moon still near 94% but it turned out kind of fun. SpaceX appeared to head right at the moon during tonight’s launch.” Thank you, John! It was the 7th launch of this particular Falcon 9 rocket, whose mission on April 28 was to carry 60 Starlink internet satellites to Earth orbit. Nine minutes after launch, the rocket’s 1st stage returned to Earth, for a successful landing at sea on SpaceX’s drone ship Just Read the Instructions.