At just after 8:30 this evening, an Antares rocket carrying a Cygnus supply capsule launched from the NASA flight facility on Delmarva Peninsula at Wallops Island, Virginia. We took a walk on the Veterans Memorial Bridge over the Susquehanna at Columbia-Wrightsville to have a look at the spacecraft as it powered its way into orbit for a rendezvous with the International Space Station.
Unfortunately, a smoky haze from wildfires still burning in Canada obscured our view of the ascending rocket as it cleared our horizon and made its way downrange across the Atlantic.
![Antares Rocket Launch Through Wildfire Smoke Antares rocket launch through smoke haze.](https://www.susquehannawildlife.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Antares-Rocket-through-wildfire-smoke-haze-IMG_1194-Copy.jpg)
But on the brighter side, we were spared any significant disappointment. It just so happened that the Antares/Cygnus rocket wasn’t the only launch visible from the Veteran’s Memorial Bridge this evening…
![Rocket Launch?](https://www.susquehannawildlife.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Fireworks-Columbia-IMG_1173-Copy.jpg)
![Fireworks Above Columbia, Pennsylvania Fireworks Above Columbia, Pennsylvania](https://www.susquehannawildlife.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Fireworks-Columbia-IMG_1169-Copy.jpg)
![Fireworks "Grande Finale" Fireworks "Grande Finale" on the Susquehanna at Columbia, PA](https://www.susquehannawildlife.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Fireworks-Columbia-IMG_1183-Copy.jpg)
![Fishing the Eelgrass Beds Fishing the Eelgrass Beds](https://www.susquehannawildlife.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Fishing-on-the-Susquehanna-IMG_1191-Copy.jpg)