Space Centre Sunset

The Sun settles down behind the water tower about a quarter of an hour before the X-37B was launched. The Vehicle Assembly Building is at the very right-hand edge of the picture.
People gather on the roof of the CBS Television Studio to see the Atlas 5 launch. My observing position was atop the building to its immediate left, which is the NBC Studio. Note that there are very few people on this building, even though it offered a better view of the launch pad, which is 90 degrees to the left of the line of view of this photo.
Six minutes to launch time, the view from the NBC building across the CBS roof to the setting sun. The bloke in the uniform is one of our USAF escorts.

As the reddening sun headed towards its 7:45 pm appointment with the horizon I spied some photographers who hadn't got Air Force accreditation for this launch, and went down to chat with them. They had used their STS 131 passes to get in, which was technically not allowed.

I also took some sunset shots before returning to my treasured eyrie. On the way back I spotted the "money shot" photographer in a location from where he certainly was not going to see the lift-off, which for him would be hidden behind the trees surrounding the turning basin lagoon.

The CBS building had now accumulated even more folks. They, like me, had a clear view over the trees of the rocket on its launch pad. All-in-all, I reckon I had the best position, with the only annoyance being a tall microwave dish mast from a television outside broadcast van to the right of the field of view. It didn't block the view, but made my photos less photogenic than they might have been. Still, I, at least, would get the "money shot."
Listen or download sunset description (0 min 35 s - 0.6 MB)

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