Firework or sunrise? SpaceX launch lights up morning sky over Cape Canaveral, Florida
On the eve of the nation's Independence Day, those who opted to stay up, rise early, or were already on the go, caught quite the show. Following a bright glare that lit up the pre-dawn sky Wednesday, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rose into the air before following up with the booster landing ? which became visible as it landed over the Atlantic Ocean.
The visible booster shooting from the sky as a celestial sparkler was not something many were anticipating. Visible from across the Space Coast, the vapor from the Falcon 9 left a colorful glow as the sun began to peak near the horizon ? early sunlight illuminating the booster's landing trail.
Florida is one of the few places where both fireworks and rockets grace the skies.
Soaring away from Space Launch Complex 40, the rocket's second stage carried the latest batch of 20 Starlink internet satellites to orbit. This time, 13 of those satellites included Direct to Cell capabilities ? which will provide mobile Starlink service to customers.
SpaceX had already adjusted the liftoff time on three occasions before the rocket took to the sky. No reason for the delay was given, yet the radar showed some weather activity over the Atlantic Ocean.
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After just over eight minutes into the flight, the first stage Falcon 9 booster made that visible, controlled landing on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship out on the Atlantic Ocean ? which will be ferried back to Port Canaveral in the coming days.
That landing trail, which is rarely seen from droneship landings, stayed illuminated by the light of dawn for over an hour ? leaving a colorful area of sky next to a crescent moon and Jupiter.
According to SpaceX, this Falcon 9 saw its 16th flight, having previously carried 10 Starlink missions, SES-22, ispace's HAKUTO-R MISSION 1, Amazonas-6, CRS-27, and Bandwagon-1. None of these past flights were crewed missions.
SpaceX News: NASA's COSI mission will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket
NASA released a statement on July 2 announcing that SpaceX has been selected to deliver the COSI (Compton Spectrometer and Imager) mission.
Set to launch atop a Falcon 9 no earlier than August 2027, this new mission will observe the universe to find answers to the mysteries of matter, antimatter, and the later part of the lifecycle of stars. The compact Compton space telescope will do so by observing gamma-rays, which are the smallest, therefore one of the most difficult, wavelengths to detect.
Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at [email protected] or on X: @brookeofstars.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX rocket launch brings early sunrise over Space Coast, Florida