This evening I was ready with my tripod and camera on a nearby hilltop here on San Nicolas Island. A SpaceX rocket launch from Vandenberg AFB was scheduled for 7:20 p.m. PDT. Vandenberg is about 115 miles to the northwest of San Nicolas Island. Fortunately, skies were mostly clear and visibilities were not too bad. The timing of the launch was perfect for photography, with the fairly dark skies and some sunset colors remaining.
About one minute after I was ready with the 70-200mm lens set to 70mm, the launch was in progress. I took long exposures (8-12 seconds) as the rocket went up. It was headed to the south or SSE, and was moving high in the sky to my west. I managed a few shorter exposures (1-2 seconds) as the vapor trail expanded and one of the rockets started its return to the launch area.
In the 11th image below, you can see that second rocket descending back towards the ground beneath the old vapor trail. The last few images are wide-angle (21mm) shots to the south.
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