Adam Trahan: Satellite Rocket & International Space Station Photography

——————————

Nikon D780 - AF-S Nikkor 24-120mm f4 G ED VR / 120mm f4 ~ 1/25 sec ~ ISO 25600

June 24, 2026: 20:39 hrs - Tonight was almost a bust. I didn’t know where to look. I saw a lighter spot in the clouds that I thought was the plume. I watched for a while to catch anything, looked at the horizon and the trail was already long!

It happens quick.

I had launch control on the AirPods Max and I could hear the engineers calling out data. Key thing now is, I know where to look and I know more about camera settings. I’m confident I’ll get better at this. Next time I’ll bring the AF-S Nikkor 80-400mm f4.5-5.6 ED VR N G FX and zoom in on the low angle launch.

——————————

May 19, 2026 at 8:07p ~ Camelback Mountain in Phoenix, Arizona

I arrived a few minutes before launch and watched the T-minus details on the Space X web site. They have a live feed for onboard video. I did not see a plume however I did see what looked like a contrail from the general Mojave launch area. Unknown identification, failed spotting.

——————————

Nikon D780 - AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f3.5-5.6 G ED VR FX / 125mm ~ f4.8 ~ 1/15 sec ~ ISO 51200

January 2, 2026 at 7:18p ~ from my home in Phoenix, Arizona

I photographed this one by pure chance. I was able to capture with my phone camera then with my DSLR.

——————————

March 16, 2022 7:35p

August 22, 2021 8:29p

April 26, 2021 4:27a

April 23, 2021 5:57a

March 17, 2021 7:57p

Visible International Space Station pass

I am a ham radio operator, KJ7UCP. I sometimes bounce a radio signal through the antenna on the International Space Station to make contact with other Ham operators in distant areas. Mexico, California, Colorado, Idaho and if I’m not mistaken, Guadalajara is my most distant contact. Often I set up my phone camera and video a pass.

Note: Small satellites do the same thing as the ISS, you can bounce messages through their antenna. I track by an application on my tablet, then using my hand held antenna and my 2m 440cm hand held radio. Similar to a satellite phone but using a specific radio, antenna and frequency, announcing my presence, answering anyone who I made contact with. On this occasion, I made contact with a Phoenix friend, Rick Tejera K7TEJ The amazing thing was that I was in Imperial Beach in California and spoke with Rick who was chasing the same satellite, SO-50 It wasn’t by chance, he told me about an upcoming pass, to try for him and I did and was successful.

This radio contact was coordinated use a satellite tracking APP on my tablet and the above gear. The satellite is about a foot square and travelling at 17,000 some odd miles per hour. It is a precise chance that everything will line up and contact with another operator will be made.

For those of you reading along that are not radio operators, just to get this image, I have to track the ISS, make sure it is sending the images, capture a sound file, run it through a program to decode and make the sound into a picture. The tone has a pleasing beeping to it, kind of sounds like a hang gliding variometer as you are drifting around in bouyant air without a centralized area of lifting.

On this day, the ISS transmitted 12 images at different times. Lots going on but I managed to capture seven of the twelve. It was a fun project. I had to be very precise. The interesting thing is that this is how we have fun. The astronauts “play” with the equipment and we share in that. No one would believe me if I told them I played with the astronauts on the International Space Station. They would just not believe me but it’s true. This is what we do for fun. I know if I was floating in a tin can, far above our planet, I might just want to have some fun with the radio equipment as well. All of this was planned, and I was able to capture it.