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Kona, a young boxer, is a dog who loves splashing in the waves along Solana Beach near San Diego, planet Earth. But he paused here, at least briefly, during an early evening romp on October 7. Along with two people friends he gazes skyward in this snapshot, dazzled by the flight of a Falcon 9 rocket. Their seaside view is of the sunlit exhaust plumes from the rocket’s first stage thrusters as it returns to Vandenberg Air Force base, its launch site over 250 miles to the north. via NASA https://ift.tt/2EqIJ0C

This view of southern California was taken by the Apollo 7 crew during their 18th revolution of the Earth on Oct. 12, 1968. via NASA https://ift.tt/2Ceksbp

Not the Hubble Space Telescope’s latest view of a distant planetary nebula, this illuminated cloud of gas and dust dazzled even casual U.S. west coast skygazers on October 7. Taken about three miles north of Vandenberg Air Force Base, the image follows plumes and exhaust from the first and second stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rising through southern California’s early evening skies. In the fading twilight, the reddish smoke drifting in the foreground at the right is from the initial ascent of the rocket. The expanding blue and orange filamentary plumes are from first and second stage separation and the first stage boostback burn, still in sunlight at extreme altitudes. But the bright spot below center is the second stage itself headed almost directly away from the camera, accelerating to orbital velocity and far downrange. Pulsed thrusters form the upside down V-shape at the top as they guide the reusable Falcon 9 first stage back to the landing site. via NASA https://ift.tt/2QHTs83

Cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, left, and astronaut Nick Hague of NASA, right. embrace their families after landing at the Krayniy Airport. via NASA https://ift.tt/2yvfrYb

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch dazzled viewers along the U.S. west coast after sunset on October 7. Rising from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, planet Earth, the Falcon 9’s first stage then returned to a landing zone some 400 meters from the launch site less than 8 minutes after liftoff. Both launch and first stage landing (left) are captured in the frame of this two image stack, recorded by a stationary, sound-activated camera set up on a nearby hill. This Falcon 9 rocket delivered its payload, an Earth-observing satellite developed by Argentina’s national space agency, to low Earth orbit. Of course, the Falcon 9 first stage had flown before. Following a launch from Vandenberg on July 25 it was recovered after landing on the autonomous drone ship Just Read the Instructions. via NASA https://ift.tt/2OO7QOM

This composite image shows the International Space Station, with a crew of three onboard, in silhouette as it transits the Sun at roughly five miles per second, Sunday, Oct. 7, 2018. via NASA https://ift.tt/2RFTo9W