Steven's Launch Guide

Watch, or photograph, a rocket launch in person on Florida's Space Coast. I'm Steven Madow, a NASA-credentialed photographer of 250+ launches. I built this so you don't have to learn it the hard way like I did: where to stand, whether it's worth the drive, and when and where to look.

Launch day, start to finish:

T−7 days · Know what's launching
• Every launch from Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center, with a live T-minus
• Honest times: if only the day or month is known, that's all you'll see
• CONFIRMED when T-0 is firm, GO only when the launch team actually polls GO
• Holds and scrubs as they happen, with the reason and the new time
• Follow what you care about: reminders, slip and scrub alerts, and auto-follow for every Space Coast launch, crewed flights, Falcon Heavy, New Glenn, or any rocket or provider

T−2 days · Decide if it's worth the drive
• Worth the drive? One read that weighs the weather, the launch window, and how this rocket has been doing
• Steven's Outlook: my own read on launch weather, given as a range, with the rules that could stop it
• The backup days side by side, in case it slips
• Track record: how many of this rocket's last ten launches went on the first try

T−1 day · Be in the right place
• Hand-picked viewing spots with photos, distance to the pad, which way to face, and directions
• Spots closed for a launch are left out (no driving to the LC-39 gantry for a 39A launch)
• Will Playalinda be open? Park Service notices tied to each launch, and a push when it's confirmed
• A heads-up when a twilight launch could make a "jellyfish" plume

T−8 hours · Sleep, it's watching the range
• A big Countdown Clock widget for your nightstand that says if the launch scrubs
• A wake-up alarm set from liftoff: it rings through silent mode, moves if the launch slips, and turns off if it scrubs. No 4 AM wake-ups for nothing

T−3 hours · Know if you'll see it
• Launch-weather odds and the rules forecasters are watching
• Clouds at T-0 split into low, mid, and high layers, with a plain-English verdict
• Live NOAA satellite and NEXRAD radar loops over the pads

T−1 hour · In your notifications
• A live countdown notification starts an hour before launches you follow
• After liftoff it keeps counting to each booster burn and the landing

T−10 minutes · Point at the pad
• A live compass: turn until the arrow lines up and that's where it rises
• Calibrate it against the Sun, the Moon, or a landmark

T−0 · Eyes up, not on your phone
• Spoken callouts: T-minus milestones, the final ten, "Liftoff!", Max Q, and engine cutoff
• Warnings 30 and 10 seconds before boostback, entry, and landing burns
• Keeps talking with the screen off, through earbuds or out loud from the phone
• A full-screen countdown mode that turns sideways on a tripod
• Works without a signal: the next few launches are saved on your phone, and the callouts keep going

T+8 minutes · Then watch it come home
• Countdowns to every booster burn and the landing, for all three Falcon Heavy cores
• Landing zone or droneship, and sonic boom heads-ups when it's coming back to the Cape
• Results the moment they're known

T+2 days · Watch the droneship come home
• Follow the droneship back to port, with the booster on deck
• How far along it is and roughly when it'll be in
• An alert when your booster is coming home, so you can be at the jetty when it sails in

Keep a launch log
• Log every launch you saw in person or watched on the stream, and where you watched from
• Earn badges, and add your past launches in a couple of taps
• My recap of launches I photographed, with my photos and prints from that launch

Know the mission
• Booster history, pad turnaround, and "by the numbers" stats
• What's on board, mission patches, and infographics
• Crew, spacecraft, and the full countdown timeline

No ads. An account is optional, and only syncs your launch log between devices.

Not affiliated with NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Blue Origin, or the U.S. Space Force.