Michael Seeley: Photos of stuff (rockets preferred). @WeReportSpace co-founder; @NatGeo contributor; President, @Health_First Foundation. Follows&RTs≠endorse.
Melbourne, FL
Joined April 2009
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Michael Seeley retweeted
What a day at MAX POWER!
From the incredible pilots and performers at @airdotshow to the NASA team showcasing what American aviation and space exploration can achieve, there was no shortage of talent and inspiration at @NASAKennedy today.
Thousands came out to experience it firsthand, and hopefully a few future aviators and astronauts left inspired to dream bigger.
We have more big things ahead today with @capeweek_us!
If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that I have a bit of a fixation on wrecked boats. (See: “Cuki”, circa 2017) To me, at least, they make for an interesting photo subject, even more so if I can pair them with a rocket launch.
Meet the latest in that category, the “Russian Dove,” a recent visitor to the Space Coast. It’s a 45’ Leopard “Owner’s Edition” sailboat, made in 2022. It was sailing south out of Norfolk, VA, when it encountered 10-foot seas and 30 mph winds. They tried to anchor off Cape Canaveral (possibly after losing power) and broke both anchor chains. The crew/owners were rescued, and the boat washed ashore in Satellite Beach during the “king tide.”
It’s a big boat. Unlike many of the wrecks I visit, it looked ready to go, almost as if someone had just driven it onshore for a day on the beach. It also wasn’t picked over, certainly because the owner had posted a guard to chase away looters. In the first photo, taken last Tuesday morning at daybreak, the guard is standing watch; a moment later, a couple showed up and started to climb on the front for a photo, only to be shooed away.
A similar stock boat seems to be available for $800,000, but the “Owner’s Edition” may have upgrades that push the value well north of $1 million.
The next (color) photo was from later that same day. TowBoatUS Port Canaveral had turned it around at high tide, and they were using a giant circular saw to remove the rudder (or rudders?) that were deep in the sand. They didn’t think the carbon-fiber hull had been breached, so they planned to gently drag her off the beach at the next day’s high tide.
That plan worked, and by Wednesday night, the interwebs had photos of her under tow in the Port Canaveral channel, where she was going to be checked out before going to Fort Pierce (under tow, I presume) for repairs. – at Satellite Beach, FL
A Diamond DA42 NG Twin Star (N320ER), @EmbryRiddle flight ERU320, from Daytona Beach (DAB) to Fort Pierce (FPR), crossing the edge of a waxing gibbous Moon (72% illuminated) over Melbourne, Florida on Tuesday (10/20) @ 3,825 ft & 169 kts, its twin-engine silhouette large against the lunar surface.
📷: me, flight data: @flightradar24 – at Melbourne, FL
Look closely at the undersides: the @AFThunderbirds were flying so close together Friday over NASA’s Kennedy Space Center that each F-16 reflects in the glossy paint of the next. More Max Power practice ahead of the weekend.
Max Power at NASA's Kennedy Space Center: United States Air Force Thunderbirds, Friday practice before Saturday and Sunday performances.
Michael Seeley retweeted
Can you think of anything more patriotic than the Thunderbirds flying over @NASAKennedy 🇺🇸
Michael Seeley retweeted
Today was a good day! Can’t wait to edit this one! Thank you for your time @NASAAdmin!
Michael Seeley retweeted
Very pleased to announce our newest X-plane, the X-70 Fractal, is joining the @NASAaero fleet to research and develop advanced flight control technology far beyond anything tested in a crewed aircraft. She will take flight under the @NASA banner within the next two years. The science fiction future we imagined as children is ours to build... and I promise, there will be more 🇺🇸
🚨 BREAKING: Introducing X-70 Fractal, @NASA's newest experimental aircraft!
This crewed, modular aircraft will allow the agency to rapidly swap out internal & external payloads to help keep pushing the frontiers of aviation technology! @nasaadmin
Details: go.nasa.gov/4kAeM0d
ALT Generated image of NASA’s new X-70 Fractal experimental aircraft, a crewed, rapidly reconfigurable research platform for advanced aviation technologies.
An Airbus A319 (N751UW), @AmericanAir 1292 from Savannah (SAV) to Miami (MIA), crossing the waning crescent Moon (23% illuminated), basking in the morning sunlight over Florida’s Space Coast, on Wednesday (11/4) @ 34,000 ft & 448 kts.
📷: me, flight data: @flightradar24 – at Merritt Island, FL
Details: ISO1250, f/9 & 1/1000-sec with a @CanonUSA R5mii / RF200-800mm, handheld.
Another good collab with @johnkrausphotos; well done.
OTD, 4 years ago: SpaceX launched a Falcon Heavy rocket and the USSF-44.
Thick fog made the launch nearly invisible from the Press Site, but it was a different, epic scene at LZ-1 and 2.
(Audio on, especially for the second clip)
🎥: me, 11/1/2022
A Beechcraft A36 Bonanza (N17748), a private aircraft, passing close by a waning gibbous Moon (65% illuminated) over Florida’s Space Coast on Saturday (10/31), its underside lit gold by the early morning Sun @ 3,375 ft & 156 kts.
📷: me, flight data: @flightradar24 – at Melbourne, FL
Michael Seeley retweeted
Terrific photo!
A Boeing C-17A Globemaster III (03-3115) of the 172nd Airlift Wing, Mississippi Air National Guard, crossing the Sun over Florida’s Space Coast on Thursday (10/29). Thank you to the Airmen who fly and support it.
Flying as @usairforce FAMUS05 from Joint Base Andrews (ADW) to Homestead Air Reserve Base (HST) @ 31,800 ft & 492 kts. Four engines, a 170-foot wingspan and a T-tail, all in silhouette against the Sun.
The 172nd, based in Jackson, Mississippi, was the first Air National Guard unit to fly the C-17. Its crews have airlifted troops and cargo, flown wounded service members home and delivered relief after disasters.
Catching a heavy airlifter on the face of the Sun is rare. It’s the first C-17 I’ve caught in a transit, and I couldn’t find another published photo of one.
📷: me, flight data: @flightradar24
Michael Seeley retweeted
Everything we do at @NASA better pass the “What would Gene Kranz think of this?” test... and that is going to be especially important as we build the Mission Control of the Future to manage operations in LEO, the Moon Base and Beyond.
