I grew up wanting to be an astronaut. The space race of the 1960s was constantly in the news, and the press made astronauts of the day look bigger than life, real heroes. Sixty years later, and we’re a little jaded. Missions come and missions go. The Space Station keeps orbiting up there. But seeing a launch in person for the first time was really impressive. It was worth waking up at 5am so I could get to a good place to view the takeoff. I shot these pictures from about 10 miles away, and still it was awe inspiring. In addition to the fiery departure of four astronauts and their supplies and equipment through the stratosphere, SpaceX has a system to recover the booster, which adds an afterglow to the experience as the booster returns to land near the launch site. It was all pretty magical. Highly recommended when you travel to the Space Coast!