Today launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center roared to life for the first time in over half a decade as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched a Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. Follow me after the break to learn why this launch means a lot to me an see some photos.
CRS-10 has been on my radar for a few years now as I had a very tiny role in one of the payloads. STP-H5, a DoD payload is carrying several experiments to station. One of those experiments is the CHREC Space Processor.
The CHREC Space Processor is a hybrid space computer. I have been working on my PhD in the CHREC lab at the University of Florida, leading the devices group. One of my fellow graduate students led this project in cooperation with students at Brigham Young University, and several NASA centers. STP-H5 will be attached to the outside of the International Space Station and provide a real-world test for this new computing concept.
I was not going to miss the launch of something I even had the slightly role in helping make possible. I was able to see it in person and listen to the launch controllers on a local amateur radio repeater, broadcasting the launch control net. I took a few photos and zoomed in as I was quite far from the launch pad. The weather was a bit hazy, but you can still make out the launch and landing. Enjoy!
Photos taken on a Nikon D3300 with Nikon 55-200mm lens.
Its really hard to see the landing, so I zoomed in for you. It looks like a tiny dot in the above photo, but you can see it better below.
Milluzzi Labs 