We were staying in our favorite spot in Dell City, Texas in June and got lucky: we got to see a Blue Origin launch!  We had missed seeing Bill Shatner’s flight by a day last fall and were delighted to get to see this one.  We were too far away to see the engines, rocket, or parachutes, but that’s not an airplane contrail!  

Watching it without sound reminds me of watching a Space Shuttle launch in person – you see the engines light and the Space Shuttle liftoff, but it’s totally silent – because light travels much faster than sound.  It’s pretty eerie.  Eventually, of course, the sound reaches you too, and you can hear the million-firecracker sound of the engines.  For this launch, we were too far away to hear it in person, so we listened to the Blue Origin broadcast.

Although I couldn’t see the rocket, I did catch it with my camera!  Look above the contrail for the small white rectangle.  That’s it!

I also got pictures of the contrail with a dove-shaped cloud and the local landscape.  

What a great way to start the day.