Spectacular Night Rocket Launch Wows Skywatchers on US East Coast (Photos)

News
By Tariq Malik
published

An Orbital Sciences Minotaur 1 rocket streaks toward space in this long-exposure view of the Air Force's ORS-3 mission launch of 29 small satellites from Pad 0B at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va
An Orbital Sciences Minotaur 1 rocket streaks toward space in this long-exposure view of the Air Force's ORS-3 mission launch of 29 small satellites from Pad 0B at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va., on Nov. 19, 2013. (Image credit: NASA/Allison Stancil)

A dazzling rocket launch that hurled a record 29 satellites into orbit from Virginia's eastern shore Tuesday night was also visible to potentially millions of observers on the U.S. East Coast, thrilling skywatchers who photographed the amazing space shot.

The Orbital Sciences-built Minotaur 1 rocket launched a cornucopia of satellites into orbit Tuesday (Nov. 19) at 8:15 p.m. EST (0115 GMT Wednesday) from a pad at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. Because of the launch's trajectory, it was expected to be visible from northeastern Canada to Florida, and as far inland as Kentucky, according to Orbital Sciences officials.

"What an amazing sight to see," skywatcher Debbie Stone, who watched the rocket launch from Charlton, Mass., told SPACE.com in an email. Stone's long-exposure view of the launch shows the Minotaur 1 rocket as an arc of light over a dark landscape. [See more amazing Minotaur 1 rocket launch photos by SPACE.com readers]

Photographer Jeff Berkes captured this amazing long-exposure view of a Minotaur 1 rocket launch as seen from Southeastern, Pa., of Nov. 19, 2013. The rocket launched from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va., carrying 29 satellites for the U.S. Air Force's ORS-3 mission and was visible to millions of observers along the U.S. East Coast. (Image credit: Jeff Berkes Photography)

From my observing post in West Orange, N.J., the launch appeared as fast-moving light with a blazingly bright reddish-orange hue streaking to the southeast.

"Daddy, I see the rocket," my 4-year-old daughter Zadie told me as we watched the launch with neighbors.

Asha Punnoose beams next to TJ3Sat, a the first CubeSat to be built by high school students and launched into space through NASA's ELaNA program. (Image credit: Thomas Jefferson High School)

Tuesday's rocket launch was orchestrated by the U.S. military's Operationally Responsive Space Office and was aimed primarily at launching the U.S. Air Force's $55 million STPSat-3 satellite, which is carrying five experiments and sensors to measure the space environment. The 28 other tiny cubesat satellites included TJ3Sat, the first-ever satellite designed and built by high school students, and NASA's new PhoneSat 2.4, a satellite built from smartphone components.

The Minotaur 1 rocket launched from a pad at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, a commercial launch site overseen by the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority that is located on the grounds of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.

Clear weather conditions played a deciding factor in whether the Minotaur 1 rocket launch would be visible to the millions of potential spectators along the U.S. East Coast, since low clouds or rain could spoil the event. In September, another Orbital Sciences rocket — this one a larger Minotaur 5 booster — also launched at night to send NASA's LADEE lunar probe on its way to the moon. That night launch also wowed skywatchers along the East Coast.

Louis Suarato of Albany, N.Y., captured this view of the Minotaur 1 rocket launch from Wallops Island, Va., on Nov. 19, 2013. The rocket launched 29 satellites into orbit on the ORS-3 mission by the U.S. Air Force and NASA. (Image credit: Louis Suarato)

Louis Suarato managed to see the launch from Albany, N.Y., and almost immediately posted an image on Twitter to capture the moment.

"Albany is 400 miles north of Wallops Island," Suarato told SPACE.com in an email just after the launch. "It was a wonderful view!"

Based on emails sent in to SPACE.com, Tuesday night's launch had the same effect. Photos and accounts of sightings came in from across the East Coast, including Washington, D.C., where observer Corey Clarke captured a view of the rocket over the U.S. Capitol Building from his observation spot at the National Academy of Sciences' Keck Center.

Skywatcher Corey Clarke snapped this 15-second exposure of a Minotaur 1 rocket streaking over the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., as seen from the National Academy of Sciences Keck Center on Nov. 19, 2013. The rocket launched from a Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport pad at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va., carrying a record 29 satellites into orbit for the U.S. Air Force's ORS-3 mission. (Image credit: Corey Clarke)

Other observers simply enjoyed the spectacle.

"After being a fan of spaceflight my entire life I finally got to see a space launch with my own two eyes," skywatcher Jim Jacoby told SPACE.com in an email after watching the launch through binoculars. "Even though I am hundreds of miles away from the launch site in western Pennsylvania, it was still awe inspiring. I even got to see the first stage separation shortly after it got over the horizon."

The next major rocket launch from the Wallops Flight Facility will be a larger Orbital Sciences Antares rocket, which is also expected to make a dazzling night launch when it lifts off on Dec. 15.

Editor's Note: A huge thank you to all the readers who sent in photos of the Minotaur 1 rocket launch Tuesday night. SPACE.com was flooded with images and we will be adding them to our skywatching gallery throughout the week. If you still have an amazing image of the launch, or any night sky view, that you'd like to share, you can send it in to managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.

Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on SPACE.com.

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Tariq Malik
Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.