AstroAmateur
astroamateur.bsky.social
AstroAmateur
@astroamateur.bsky.social
Just a dude who likes to take pictures of rockets and space.
Congrats @rocketlabcorp.com on achieving 20 Electron launches in a year! Electron becomes the second commercial rocket to reach such a milestone. Hopefully in a few years we'll be congratulating Neutron for the same achievement.
December 18, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Large explosion at Firefly's test facility. Potentially either an Alpha or Eclipse first stage. A secondary explosion followed the first which could suggest damage to the ground tanks. Hopefully everyone's safe and we get more info soon
September 29, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Reposted by AstroAmateur
⏱️150,000 hours 🛣️2,574 miles 🚚38 hours
That’s what it took to design, build, test & deliver our two ESCAPADE spacecraft from Long Beach to Kennedy Space Center. Next stop: 🛰️🔴🛰️ Mars to study its magnetosphere & unlock clues for future explorers. bit.ly/4mshUbK
ESCAPADE: Journey to Mars
The journey is just beginning! Rocket Lab's twin spacecraft for NASA and UC Berkeley's ESCAPADE mission have arrived at Kennedy Space Flight Center in preparation for their launch to Mars.
bit.ly
September 22, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Reposted by AstroAmateur
Can’t get enough of Electron missions?

How about another one tomorrow?

With our 67th mission complete, we’ve scheduled our next launch from LC-1 in less than 48 hours – Electron’s fastest turnaround from the same launch site yet!

ℹ️ Mission details: bit.ly/3I1UJ9L
June 26, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Venus, Saturn, and the Moon looked pretty happy this morning
April 25, 2025 at 3:37 PM
2 Falcon 9 launches. 2 RTLS landings. 1 cloudy night that nearly ruined this composition.
April 22, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Listen in on the Senate Nomination Hearing for future NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. LIVE now
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqej...
#NASA
Jared Isaacman Senate Nomination Hearing for NASA Administrator
YouTube video by NASA
www.youtube.com
April 9, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Refreshing article by @sciguyspace.bsky.social about Starliner's flight from Butch Wilmore's perspective. No politics or clickbait. Just the facts of what happened straight from Butch.

arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...
Starliner’s flight to the space station was far wilder than most of us thought
“Hey, this is a very precarious situation we’re in.”…
arstechnica.com
April 1, 2025 at 6:42 PM
The first one is always a doozy. The launch infrastructure seems to be okay which is great. Time to work the issue and get the second rocket on the pad.
European commercial rocket Spectrum, developed and operated by Isar Aerospace, took flight from Andøya Spaceport 🇳🇴 and flew for 30 seconds, clearing the launch pad and proving the rocket can achieve one of the hardest parts of space transportation: liftoff 🚀

More: www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...
March 30, 2025 at 3:35 PM
🫡
Gaia has been powered down after more than a decade spent gathering data.

Though the spacecraft’s operations are now over and Gaia goes into a well deserved retirement, the scientific exploitation of Gaia’s data has just begun 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

🔭 🧪
Farewell, Gaia! Spacecraft operations come to an end
The European Space Agency (ESA) has powered down its Gaia spacecraft after more than a decade spent gathering data that are now being used to unravel the secrets of our home galaxy.On 27 March 2025, G...
www.esa.int
March 27, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Reposted by AstroAmateur
The arrival and docking of Crew Dragon Endurance and the Crew-10 Astronauts as captured by NASA Astronaut Don Pettit aboard the International Space Station.
March 16, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Reposted by AstroAmateur
New launch background images just dropped 🔥 That's 2/2 in three days from Launch Complex 1. Thanks Kineis for flying on Electron.
March 18, 2025 at 7:49 PM
And the sun sets on Firefly's Blue Ghost. It's not expected to survive the 2 week long lunar night, but stranger things have happened!
One of its final pictures sees the Earth, Venus, and the Sun before it dips below the Moon's horizon.

Credit: Firefly shorturl.at/jaI7N
March 18, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Recently upgraded from a Canon 550d (2010) to a Canon 200d (2017). The low light performance improvement has been fantastic!

#orion #astrophotography #astronomy #nebula
March 18, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Reposted by AstroAmateur
High fives all round – that’s mission success for our 62nd Electron launch! Congratulations to the team at Kineis, it has been a privilege to deploy your entire constellation in less than a year across five dedicated Electron launches.
March 18, 2025 at 3:24 AM
I took some photos from a 2022 shoot of the Moon with Mars, stacked it and reprocessed it. I was so much happier when I saw how much more detail I could get out of the same data.

#moon #astrophotography #mars
March 17, 2025 at 11:42 PM
My final stacked image of last week's Blood Moon

#bloodmoon #astrophotography #space #moon
March 16, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Getting a little artsy with it. Yesterday's lunar eclipse combined with last year's solar eclipse. Instantly one of my favorite pieces
March 15, 2025 at 3:04 PM
In case you were wondering what the eclipse looked like from the lunar surface, Blue Ghost has you covered!

fireflyspace.com/news/blue-gh...
March 14, 2025 at 2:21 PM
A quick and dirty edit of the beautiful blood moon. If you're awake in North America, go outside NOW!
March 14, 2025 at 7:23 AM
And thus begins a long night of lunar photography and not much sleep
March 14, 2025 at 5:18 AM
It appears to be AI generated but it got quite the chuckle out of me nonetheless. Poor Crew 10 astronauts stranded on Earth
March 13, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Reposted by AstroAmateur
A full lunar eclipse is coming! It will be visible in the Western Hemisphere late at night on March 13 or very early in the morning of March 14, depending on your time zone. Details: go.nasa.gov/3DxJuEf
March 12, 2025 at 6:58 PM
C'mon on NASA, Rocketlab is itching to do MSR cheaper and faster than the current plan (or lack thereof). Put 'em in, coach!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdCA...
www.rocketlabusa.com/missions/mar...
Rocket Lab’s Commercial Solution to Mars Sample Return
YouTube video by Rocket Lab
www.youtube.com
March 12, 2025 at 2:58 PM
The bill would continue support for SLS with the goal of 2 launches per year. It also supports keeping the ISS operational at least until a commercial alternative is available.
March 12, 2025 at 2:58 AM