Credit: John R. Hilliard, Satellite Beach, Florida
Delta IV Orion
QM-1 Hanger Retract
Credit: Mark Usiak, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Orbital Sciences ATK QM-1 motor protective hangar is retracted during a pre-firing test of ground support equipment.
QM-1 Remote 1
Credit: Mark Usiak, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Orbital ATK QM-1 motor firing as seen from a sound-activated, remote camera near the test stand.
QM-1 Remote 1
Credit: Mark Usiak, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Orbital ATK QM-1 test firing is documented by a second sound-activated, remote camera near the test stand.
Orion Night Rollback
Credit: Mark Usiak, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
The protective gantry is rolled back, revealing the Orion EFT-1 vehicle on Pad LC-37B at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station prior to launch.
Exploration Flight Test-1 Tower Retract
Credit: Mark Usiak, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
The protective service tower is retracted form the Delta4 Heavy/Orion launch vehicle the night before its maiden launch on Pad 37B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
EFT-1 Launch Remote
Credit: Mark Usiak, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Sound-activated remote camera view of the launch of Exploration Flight Test-1 carrying the Orion spacecraft on a Delta 4 Heavy launch vehicle from Pad LC-37B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
EFT-1 Launch Press Site
Credit: Mark Usiak, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
View from the NASA Causeway of the Exploration Flight Test-1 Orion launch on a Delta 4 Heavy vehicle.
Atlas 5 Launch Viewed From Downtown Orlando
Credit: Jason Braun, New York
I woke up early, turned on the news, saw there was a rocket launch in 15 minutes, got out of bed, went out on the deck and arrived just in time to witness the successful launch of an Atlas V rocket from the Cape. That pin dot at the bottom is the rocket punching through Earth's atmosphere just before it vanished into outer space.
Number Two Hundred
Credit: Jin Nakashima, Ardmore, Oklahoma
The MUOS 3 spacecraft carried by the Atlas V rocket was the 200th Atlas-Centaur launch. It was lighting up a January night sky at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Blue to Blue
Credit: Jared Congiardo, Sanford, Florida
A ULA Atlas V carrying GPS IIF-8 rises from Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral, Florida.
A New Dawn
Credit: Jared Congiardo, Sanford, Florida
Dawn blazes and two security helicopters fly overhead as EFT-1 stands poised for launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
There Must Be Some Way Out of Here
Credit: Jared Congiardo, Sanford, Florida
Super Draco engines fire, pushing the Dragon 2 Pad Abort Test capsule away from Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
We received 293 entries and 637 individual photos for the 23rd Annual Aviation Week Photo Contest. Entries came from all 50 U.S. states and 14 other countries, representing every continent except Antarctica. Space is the most difficult category for drawing entries because access is limited and there are fewer events that provide photo opportunities.