Trevor Mahlmann

On Monday, after standing down for a month, SpaceX returned to flight from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Mostly sunny, deep-blue skies provided a perfect opportunity to photograph the launch of the Falcon 9 rocket. And armed with four remote cameras, Trevor Mahlmann was there for Ars to capture the scene.

The photo galleries in this post showcase the Falcon 9 rocket in flight from launch, into MaxQ, and through the first stage’s return to Landing Zone 1 on the Florida coast. When he checked his remotes, Mahlmann found a few surprises—including a few birds other than the Falcon taking a flight of their own during the launch.