From a vantage point in Titusville, FL across the Indian River from the Kennedy Space Center, the first glow of the coming dawn was beginning to spread across the eastern horizon when the Space Shuttle Discovery roared into a still-starlit sky. This 6:21 am spectacle (STS-131; 5 Apr 2010) was the last time nighttime launch of a space shuttle.

While the launch complex was still deep in the earth’s shadow, the plume created by the rising spacecraft stretched into the sunlight overhead. A brilliant, iridescent blue cloud marked the region of solid rocket booster separation, and later, the entire plume was cast into multicolored sunlight against a dark sky. The unusual, changing forms and textures of the clouds were mesmerizing.