Craig Bretton Photography

09/03/2026

09/03/2026

This was my first Falcon Heavy launch and it did not disappoint! Watching two side boosters come back under their own power and land simultaneously is just amazing. Best part being the double sonic boom!
You can see the moment of side booster separation and side booster ignition to propel itself back to the launch site.

Atop the rocket hidden in the payload faring was the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. This is a flagship NASA mission that has been in development for over 15 years. Shockingly it was completed and launched under budget and ahead of schedule which is a rarity in the aerospace industry.

Roman will be used to finally investigate dark matter and dark energy. Two things we know next to nothing about besides the fact that they both exist. With its 300 megapixel sensor, Roman can study an area 100 times the size the James Webb Space Telescope all at once. It will also work side by side with the JWST to investigate exoplanets and determine just how common Earth like planets are in our galaxy.

08/28/2026

It was slightly cloudy but just thin enough to be able to see the moon!

It’s just insane to me that you are looking at Earth’s shadow being casted on the moon.

06/26/2026

Just enjoying the afternoon downpour.

06/24/2026

Going through old pictures and forgot how many I’ve actually taken. Thought I’d share a few that stuck out to me.

(I may or may not have essentially laid in the grass about 20 feet from an alligator to get that shot)

05/20/2026

Falcon 9 carrying a SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule with over 6,000lbs of cargo and science experiments to rendezvous with the International Space Station on the CRS-34 mission. Although I was 10 miles away, I still got some great shots from an awesome vantage point atop a Marriott .

Notice the exhaust expanding as it gets higher into the atmosphere and the atmospheric pressure no longer contains the exhaust which causes it to expand as soon as it leaves the engine.

05/08/2026

By far my favorite shot of a deer. Absolutely perfect framing. I just wish she hadn’t seen me. I’d always prefer to leave nature undisturbed.

05/02/2026

M81 and M82. Located just off the dipper part of the big dipper. Also known as The Cigar Galaxy (left) and Bode’s Galaxy (right). The light photons that make up this image left those galaxies around 12 million years ago. Traveling through virtual

04/17/2026

Throwback to the 2024 eclipse. 2 years ago this month!