SpaceX CRS-17 Launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

On May 4th, 2019 at 2:48 am, SpaceX launched the CRS-17 resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX, also landed their first stage booster back to the autonomous drone ship, Of Course, I Still Love You, which was positioned 16 miles offshore. For this launch, I wanted to set up 3 DSLRs and one 360 camera, however, one of my tripods for the DSLR broke while setting up the camera. Therefore, I was only able to get three shots of the launch which you can view below.

Here is the first of the three images. It is a 360-degree panoramic view of the SpaceX CRS-17 launch to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). This shot is a composite image of three shots. One for the full 360° image and then the other two to capture the launch and then the landing.

The image below is still the same image as the one above, however, it’s viewed in the stereographic projection also called tiny planet or little planet projection.

Little planet projection of the SpaceX CRS-17 launch.

the below image is from my Canon 6D mk ii camera to capture this long exposure composite image of the rocket leaving earth and then return to land on the autonomous drone ship, Of Course, I Still Love You (OCISLY) about 16 miles off the coast of Cape Canaveral. The image is a composite of four images. One image for the launch, one for the landing sequence and two images using a Speedlite to bring out the details in the mangrove tree in the foreground.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying the CRS-17 mission to the International Space Station.

The last image is from a 360-degree camera that I had set up nearby. Since this camera will only let me change the ISO and exposure time, I set the ISO to 100 and exposure to the max at 55 seconds. I choose 55 seconds over the next lowest setting to get a longer streak of the rocket. I put the camera into interval mode at its fastest setting and let it run. The resulting image is overexposed but still shows the potential of these consumer 360 cameras. Next night launch I’ll try 30-second exposures and see what kind of difference it makes.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying the CRS-17 mission to the International Space Station.