Minotaur 2nd Stage Fires

Photo of Vandenberg AFB's rocket launch of a Minotaur on September 22 at 19:24 PDT. The vehicle will place DARPA's Streak satellite into orbit. Supposedly visible as far away as Arizona, Nevada, and Mexico, but definitely visible and impressive from our deck in Poway, CA. This was a bulb exposure -- I held the shutter open for only about 7 seconds though. You can clearly see the break between the first and second stages.

This contrail remained only for a few minutes after the launch, but it was beautiful while it lasted.