XB-70A

Ok, here is a short summary: I had not slept more than four hours daily during the last two weeks. To my own surprise, I'm not exhausted and can work as usual during the day, but I definitely want to sleep a bit more. Knowing that I should be free today, I went to the resting mattress with some good hope. Just a few woke up during the night, then I fall asleep a third time!.. just to be woke up by some #%&$*& guys with their NOISY STRING TRIMMERS and their RIDE-ON MOWER!!! Just for that I want to get out of residences forever! The worst thing about this story is that these guys know how to manage their business, since they always leave the lawn cut off, which makes it feed the land and ensures they are coming back every week for their unnecessary work.

For Atlas V's, the best location clearly is the LC-39 Observation Gantry, which is located at only 3.7 km WNW from the SLC-41. Here is what it looks like from there: The main problem with it is the fact that the KSC Visitor Complex is depending of some strict opening hours. As an example, the launch of AEHF 4 in last October was unavailable, without counting the fact that in most cases, it's impossible to get refunded, and you will be good for another 50 USD investment. Otherwise, you can go at the Saturn V hangar, which is the second closest location (but the view is not so nice), or Playalinda Beach during the opening hours (when there is no Gvt shutdown), the distance is then around 6.2 km NNW from it. An impression of the sight: Last solution: Port Canaveral. It's open at any time, at least, but the distance between the 41 and you is pretty important... about 18.7 km. ------ For Delta IV, the best places are the NASA Causeway and the LC-39 O.G., but once again they are depending of the opening hours, and of the "type" of the payload also. Otherwise, a really good and free spot is, once again, the FL-401 in Port Canaveral, which is only 14 km away at the SW: However, I would recommend to stand at the westerly spot available on the road, if you want to have a clear sight of the SLC-37. It's a bit farther than if you were standing close to the Air Force Station entrance, but with the last one the vegetation will not gave you the possibility to see the whole complex. ---- For Falcon 9 and Heavy, you got all the options of the two others, depending of which pad is used. About any launch from the SLC-39A, the LC-39 O.G. is unavailable due to the proximity of the complex, but it is available when the 40 is used. This is what you could see from there: The sight is particularly clear of any natural and artificial obstructions, but (as usual) there are some negative points... if you want to take movies or pictures, you must ride the first bus and be the first to arrive on the site! The spotters are real vultures and will occupy all the spots of the gantry is less than a minute. There are about 4 levels available on the gantry, but all terraces are obstructed by the metallic arms of the structure, and if you want to shot Falcon 9 from there, only the Southern sight is interesting. All in all, I would say that only 18 spots are available, and it is strictly forbidden to install any of your equipment in the stairs. If all the spots are already taken, you can still stay at the surface. There are two stadium benches available (tripods are unauthorized on them), and it is possible to settle at the grid, provided (once again) to be the first arrived first served. If the O.G. is unavailable (or if you don't want to risk four scrubs and four not refunded tickets... *cough* GPS-3 I *cough*...), Playalinda Beach is an excellent location. The second best for launch from the SLC-39A, with only 5.5 km of separation at the closest spot: From there, Falcon 9 will already looks like a pretty tall building for human eyes. Usually, the KSC V.C. is selling some ticket to see them from the Saturn V hangar, but those who never went there before could be disappointed, as the distance is slightly higher than from Playalinda (the whole for a higher cost), and the worst... you got the launch tower totally masking the launcher. Also, if you want to see it from the beach, you can walk toward the pad as close as possible until the park rangers will stop you. However, if you want to see it from the parking lots, be aware of something: if the parking #1 t is the closest, it's also the one with the worst sight of all as the vegetation is covering almost half of the launch tower. What I would recommend to you, depending of the launch site is: - Parking 2 for SLC-39A / SLC-41 (horrible for Falcons launch from the 40 as the 39A launch tower is totally covering up the launcher) - Parking 3 for SLC-39A / SLC-40 (don't go at this one for Atlas V, the vegetation is, once again, making it terrible) - Parking 4 for SLC-40 / SLC-41 - All parking location northerner would to be too far to be interesting about videos/photos, but still nice for the eyes. The beach is a bit less interesting for a launch from the SLC-40: From there, you will be around 12 km from the pad. Still it's the best not-too-expensive location, and it's open to anybody. Now, it's time for an umpteenth "however"... it also depends of what you mainly want to see with Falcon, the lift-off or the landing, because there are no locations available between the launchpads and the landing zone 1. If you want to focus mainly on the launch, then the ones above are good; if you want to favor the landing, then the best location is Port Canaveral. Alas, this location is the farthest of all for any launch, (but it's a totally free one, at least). For launch from the 40, you will end at around 16 km from it, and for the 39A... (drum rolls)... at 21 km *big sigh*. It's far, really far, and without any cameras or binoculars, it will only looks like a tiny star elevating slowly. Here is what you can get with the SLC-40: And with the SLC-39A (watch for your eyes, it hurts): But all the sacrifice would have a meaning if you want to see the boosters coming back, as the LZ-1 is "only" 10 km away from you: Just like the case of Delta IV, the different sites will give you different perspectives. If you are at the westerly location, you will enjoy a really nice sight of the booster(s) coming back: The bad points there being, the building, and these awful cables. If you are choosing to stay at the entrance of the base, then the building is not a problem anymore, but the vegetation will cover your sight instead: ------- Now, some other points: - Playalinda Beach is an excellent location, but recently they changed the rules, and now the rangers are closing the Park about two hours before any launch (even if there are STILL parking spots available...). You must be on site as early as possible. In the case of Es'Hail-2/Falcon 9 in November, I arrived around 10 in the morning, even if the launch actually happened at 15:46 local time. Many people are coming to attend every launch, even more when it's a recoverable Falcon. Also pretty good, four restrooms are available at each parking, but you must carry your own water as there are no selling points. The location is costing 1 USD to enter if you are walking in (these guys are smart, the closest houses are in Titusville, almost two hours of walking from the park) or if you are coming on a bicycle. With a car, it will cost you 10. What I'm recommending to everyone who don't want to take any risk is to buy the annual pass for 40 dollars. In case of multiple scrubs it can be interesting. - Same story for the FL-401 in Port Canaveral. If you are standing at the westerly spot, you just have to park on the side of the road, and everything is done. However, no restrooms are available there. If you decided to stay close to the entrance of the base, you will have to stop at a simple checkpoint, and a MP will ask you what you are doing here (only to check if you are working on the base or not). Just say that you are coming to attend the launch and he/she will tell you to park (rear first, mandatory) at a special location. The good point about here is that two large grandstands are available, as well as 6 chemical restrooms, BUT, don''t forget to bring your own toilet paper with you (it's not a joke, almost every time I'm leaving one in for others). Everything there is free. - If you're going at the LC-39 Observation Gantry, you need to pay for an entry at the Visitor Center, and $50 more for the gantry. If the launch is scrubbed before you are giving your bus boarding card, then everything is "fine", and you will be able to use your ticket for the next launch attempt. However, you must pay for a new daily entrance (this is where it's way better to buy an annual pass instead of a daily admission, just in case). Now the worst, if it has been cancelled after you have seated in, the game is over. You will not be refunded your tickets, and the KSC V.C. will only give you two solutions: or you can buy something awfully expensive in one of the stores with 15% off, OR it can give you a free access to visitor complex for the next attempt, BUT you will still have to buy a new 50 USD place for the O.G. It's costing a lot, but it's always giving you the closest spot locations when it's open. Water and food are free to everyone, and a "mission" t-shirt will be given to you (officially, it's supposed to be a mission t-shirt, every single time I went there it was not but some of their standard shirts they are selling at the Visitor Complex... anyway) - Every launch is exceptional and particular and another point I really enjoy is that you are always meeting with people coming from all over the globe. However, the rate of right-on-time lift-off is still average. - For DM-1, it will depend of what you want to see the most, the lift-off or the abort. For the first case, the best would be Playalinda as the pad is supposed to be the 39A, but if you want a better side perspective of the whole scene, I would go for Port Canaveral instead. The trajectory of Dragon flights is really particular when compared to the others. To give you some example, here is what you will see from Playalinda: Here from the FL-401: Also, as it's a Dragon flight, you can see the difference of trajectory on these two shots, both were taken at Max-q from the same location in Port Canaveral; both were launched from the SLC-40: GPS 3-I "Vespucci" Dragon CRS-16 As you can see, the Dragon trajectory is more "straight" from our perspective. Due to this, abort could be a bit more disappointing if shot from Playalinda rather than Port Canaveral. Well, that's a lot of lines, but I hope it will help you to decide which location could be the most pleasant.

It was a bitter information to read a couple of months ago. But this is not so much a surprise when you know the constant instability of Flickr, one day it's a wonder, then the next day it's a hell, etc. However, it still has the advantage of hosting photos in original quality (and with the configurations of the camera available), while imgur is good for hosting images against the quality (and also to ruin albums' rearrangement from time to time). Ironically, this choice on the part of Flickr may cost them a lot, or maybe not. One thing is certain though: of all the artistic sectors, photography is potentially the one with the highest number of insulting and arrogant "artists", and this decision of Flickr can only make them happy. Just reading the comments on DPReview gives a good overview of the atmosphere in this community, and this last decision of Flickr could potentially end up making it an umpteenth bastion of macro-oligarchs.

Welcome at The Rock, Capone.

Banned for asking too much.

The sole place where Android deserves to be:

BTW, I'm surprise to see a 415 from the P.C. without its nose radome. Maybe a recently bought unit.

Almost a week, five wake-up at 04:30, and 200 not-refunded-dollars later, I got some pictures of "Vespucci" to share: Taken from the LC-39 Observation Gantry, 5.5 km away. Four scrubs later the visitor complex decided to stop selling the tickets for the next attempt, which (SURPRISE!) was the good one. Also, as a result of the government shutdown the access to Playalinda Beach was impossible. Last solution --> Port Canaveral, almost 16 km away.

I must admit... we drove back to it after almost 30 minutes (exits are a bit... uncommon in that area), but I was a bit worried about possible consequences if we got caught. Anyway, they are online now and I cannot step back Also, here are some pictures from this morning: (#WokeUpAt4ForTheFourthTimeBanUpperWinds)

Guys, guys, guys! One of my relatives and I drove a lot during the last days, thousands of km, and ended in Alabama today. The weather was awful and stressful, but look at what we found at one of the weight station!!! The location was a weigh station on the East bound interstate 10, about 5.3 km from the Alabama/Florida border. It was probably waiting for better weather conditions before driving back.

Ooow, these two were my favorite representation of them (I'm trying to remember their names, they were famous singers in the 90's). --- Now I'm thinking about it, could the "potential-Anguirus" in the trailer be... Baragon?

Don't forget the twin fairies Oh, and I bet they will sing Mosura ya Mosura once again.

Pretty good L-4 Forecast for GPS III-2:

Even better (from my personal opinion, but I always preferred ground attack to fighters & interceptors...), it's an LTV A-7D Corsair II. If you don't mind, could I ask you where did you catch it? It's a pretty confusing one. Its livery reminds me the ones used by the Força Aérea Portuguesa until the end of the 90's. Its brown is too dark to make it one deployed by the Greeks, the USAF, or the ANG.

Almost happened when Boeing made a desperate attempt to convert its HLS competitor (which lost against the Galaxy) in an ALCM carrier: Would have potentially carried a nice amount of AGM-86s! EDIT: I just realized I got well beaten by @p1t1o Good reason to wait for a page to fully load before typing, even if it's taking minutes due to a terrible connection...

4/3.162278 For being on "extended" leave and present at the same time.

Mmmmh... it seems like the sled's cargo section is a bit too wide for a Gift Dispenser. I would bet the NRO contracted Northrop Grumman to put some "lenses" in.

Not sure, but I guess it can be related to the volume and the pressure in the cylinders. I'm currently driving an Optima LX, and its 2500 cm3 can stand around 700/750 rpm in idle (still, just like the speedo', I would not trust the tachy' neither at the lowest units...)

Nice views of the work around the 4th pad (Essemble de Lancement Ariane 4): Also, I'm a bit curious about the Assembly Building. Will Ariane 6 be assembled horizontally (?!) at first before being transferred vertically to the mobile gantry, or is it a building dedicated to support the current ELA4 assembly?

Falcon vs. Gators.

The King is dead, long live King Ghidora! (I wish he was back as Mecha King Ghidora) Definitely him. However, bad as usual, or a bit more "friendly" this time? I hope they could give it a chance. I liked it, but many regarded it as one of the most ridiculous opponents of the whole saga. Even its appearance in Final Wars was messed up. Could be, but I'm finding it a bit too large and its needles seem to have been replaced by rock shells. Maybe they decided to enhance it a bit more. The same "shells" are eliminating Megalon to come back. --- I really wish Ebirah could have a glorious come back, and be joined by Titanosaurus for revenge, and Orga and Destroroyah and Biollante and... well, let's stop here. Or Gigan too... Anyway,

You just need some imaginaaaaaation: Therefore... aliens.

Well, we also had some, but not in Super mod. These %#@$ threw them away while they were still having a lot of potential, leaving the force with a gap: pilots have to jump from the TB30 Epsilon (single engine piston) to the Alpha Jet (dual turbofans). Best of the story? The last year they announced their choice for the PC-21 as a substitute to the Alpha... Could be nice if your display team opt for the EMB 314 in order to replace the current Wongbee (or even better if they were able to display the T-50 or the Su-30MKK)

Tucano in Super mod. These are the ones of the official demonstration team of the F.A.B., the "Smoke Squadron".

For any French speaking person, Capcom was one of the greatest sources of information for a long time (excepted for the orthographic faults...) One of their best contribution was to give an early access to the final inquiry of VA88 failure in 96. Their pages contain a lot of pictures hard to find, even on the most common search engine.