NASA's Mars 2020 mission stands ready to launch from SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force station. Photo credit: Michael Howard / We Report Space
A Different Kind of Year...
It's impossible to discuss the events of 2020 without touching on the global pandemic of COVID-19, and those of us covering the spaceflight narrative are no exception. An ambitious launch manifest and the debut of the US Space Force set the stage for the coming year.
Just a few months into 2020, it became clear that everything was going to change. The 45th Space Wing had to shelve plans for their ambitious social media credentials program, as facilities severely limited access to personnel and press, and distanced their workforces to combat the spread of the virus.
High profile missions such as SpaceX's upcoming Demo-2, normally attracting a huge press contingent, found themselves instead reducing access to just a skeleton crew of reporters and photographers, and the often-crowded lawn near the countdown clock was conspicuously empty.
Despite these precautions, a combined total of 30 launches flew from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the latter being renamed in honor of the Space Force near the completion of the year. SpaceX delivered over 800 Starlink satellites to orbit, across fourteen launches. United Launch Alliance lofted two important NASA Science missions, sending Solar Orbiter on a journey to the Sun, and Mars 2020 to explore our closest neighbor. Northrop Grumman flew two ISS resupply missions and launched their first NRO payload from Wallops Island. NASA's OSIRIS-REx team sampled the surface of the Asteroid Bennu. And the first operational rotation of astronauts flew aboard a commercial spacecraft to the International Space Station.
All of us at We Report Space feel honored and privileged to have been present to bring you coverage of this year's spaceflight news. We're looking forward to 2021 and beyond, as humankind continues to reach out farther from our home planet and explore the stars.
Bill Jelen
NASA's Solar Orbiter launch aboard United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rocket in February 2020. Photo Credit: Bill Jelen / We Report Space
SpaceX's in-flight abort test of the Crew Dragon capsule featured a dramatic impact of the Falcon 9 rocket into the Atlantic Ocean, while the spacecraft itself gently floated to a landing under four parachutes. Photo Credit: Bill Jelen / We Report SpaceThe majority of Falcon 9 first stage landings took place at sea this year, aboard SpaceX's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ships. Just four of SpaceX's Falcon 9s landed on terra firma in 2020, three in Florida (including this booster which launched the CRS-20 mission) and one in California. Photo Credit: Bill Jelen / We Report Space
Michael Seeley
SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule carried two astronauts to the International Space Station in May, as part of the "Demo-2" test flight. Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley made history as the first people to fly aboard a commercial orbital spacecraft. Photo Credit: Michael Seeley / We Report Space Following up the successful test flight of Demo-2, SpaceX transported an additional four astronauts to the International Space Station in November. Photo Credit: Michael Seeley / We Report Space Accuracy is a hallmark of spaceflight, but can also be leveraged by spaceflight photographers to create 'one-in-a-million' shots such as this one. SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Starlink L-12 payload transit the face of the sun in the early morning hours of October 2020 Photo credit: Michael Seeley / We Report Space
Michael Howard
SpaceX Founder and Chief Engineer Elon Musk celebrates following the successful launch of the Demo-2 mission in May 2020. Photo credit: Michael Howard / We Report Space Water, mud and rocket exhaust are blasted out of the flame duct at Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, as Boeing's X-37B spacecraft is sent into orbit for the Space Force. USSF-7 was the sixth launch of the X-37B and the first time the unmanned spacecraft was launched for the newly formed Space Force, having been inherited from the US Air Force. Photo credit: Michael Howard / We Report Space
Early morning east coast launches are often treated to a visual spectacle known as Twilight Phenomenon, where the upper stage exhaust of the launch vehicle is illuminated by the rising sun, while the Space Coast remains in nighttime shadow. SpaceX's Starlink L-8 mission was one such launch, where the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket cast an eerie blue glow over the gradually brightening horizon. Photo credit: Michael Howard / We Report Space
Mary Ellen Jelen
SpaceX's Starlink constellation accounted for fourteen launches on the Space Coast in 2020. Here, the Starlink L-4 mission rises from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Photo Credit: Mary Ellen Jelen / We Report Space Trailing a bright flame and white plume of solid rocket booster exhaust, the Mars Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter drone begin their long journey to the Red Planet. The Mars 2020 mission is expected to touch down in February 2021. Photo Credit: Mary Ellen Jelen / We Report Space If spaceflight photography is the art of finding new ways to portray often identical-looking launches (see: Michael Seeley's Solar Transit above), then the Santa Astronaut watching SpaceX's Starlink L-15 mission more than exceeds that goal. Photo credit: Mary Ellen Jelen / We Report Space
Andrew Albosta
Regular Wallops Island launch photographer Andrew Albosta traveled to Florida for a month in the summer of 2020. He wins the We Report Space "most launch attempts vs. fewest actual launches photographed" award for his tenacity and dedication to viewing a large number of rockets that didn't go anywhere.
ULA's Delta IV Heavy rocket spent a large portion of 2020 on the pad at Space Launch Complex 37B. This photo from September 2020 shows the rocket just seconds prior to abort, after the main engines had been commanded to ignite. The NROL-44 mission ultimately launched on December 11, 2020. Photo Credit: Andrew Albosta / We Report Space
An early morning launch of the Starlink L-12 mission provided an opportunity for a daytime long exposure streak showing the entire first stage, and early second stage flight of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. Photo Credit: Andrew Albosta / We Report SpaceAs the Falcon 9 rocket crosses the upper atmosphere while delivering its payload to orbit, the temporary high altitude condensation caused by the rocket exhaust catches the early morning sunlight and casts its own shadow across the sky. Photo Credit: Andrew Albosta / We Report Space
Jared Haworth
Virginia's Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport hosted its first National Reconnaissance Office launch in 2020, utilizing the Minotaur IV rocket to deliver a classified payload to space. Northrop Grumman's Minotaur IV, derived from an LGM-118 Peacekeeper ICBM, uses four solid rocket stages to deliver its cargo to orbit, leaving a smoky trail as it ascends. Also visible is the vapor cone around the nose of the rocket as it approaches transsonic speeds, in this case only visible for a fraction of a second before dissipating. Photo credit: Jared Haworth / We Report SpaceComet NEOWISE presented a spectacle over much of the United States in 2020. This panoramic photo captures the Comet in the skies over Virginia, as seen from the Blue Ridge Parkway. Photo credit: Jared Haworth / We Report Space
Four astronauts made their journey to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule in November 2020. This long exposure photograph captures the first four minutes of their flight, making history as the first operational crew rotation aboard a commercial spacecraft. Photo credit: Jared Haworth / We Report Space
An earlier version of this article mis-identified the NROL-44 launch attempt as taking place in August 2020, it should have read September.
Stunning, full color photo book covering every east coast launch spanning 2014-2015, including the first-ever powered landing of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
