Sunrise, river, palm tree, spectator, launch: That's so Space Coast! | Photo of the Week

FLORIDA TODAY's Tim Shortt puts it bluntly: 5 a.m. is early, but when your assignment is to shoot a launch just after sunrise, well ...

So, when the veteran photographer headed out on June 23 to shoot the 6:54 a.m. liftoff of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Launch Complex 41, one carrying 27 Amazon Project Kuiper satellites, he hoped for, at the least, a good vantage point and spectators.

But as launch time approached, only one or two people showed up at Nicol Park, located along the Indian River in Port St. John just south of the Fay Boulevard intersection.

As luck would have it, though, a man walked up to the river’s edge just in time for liftoff. It was Kevin Mahaffey, a teacher at Fairglen Elementary in Sharpes. Mahaffey had taken a break from a flooring project to see the launch, which came less than 30 minutes after the 6:26 a.m. sunrise.

And in short order, FLORIDA TODAY's next Photo of the Week was in the works.

"I quickly positioned myself so that he was directly blocking the sun and took several pics before he saw me. He at first seemed concerned that he was in my way," said Shortt.

"But I was so glad he was there. To me, with the launch, the sunrise, the river and the palm trees — it sure says Brevard County, Florida! Getting up early is not easy, but it often pays off with sights like these."

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Launch at the crack of yawn? That's life in Brevard | Photo of the Week