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SpaceX Falcon 9 launch stuns early risers with giant glowing 'space jellyfish' visible across the US east coast

A glowing jellyfish-shaped cloud fills the pre-dawn sky after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 6.33am ET on Tuesday, with its frozen exhaust plume lit by sunlight bouncing off upper-atmosphere…
A glowing jellyfish-shaped cloud fills the pre-dawn sky after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 6.33am ET on Tuesday, with its frozen exhaust plume lit by sunlight bouncing off upper-atmosphere…
A luminescent jellyfish-shaped cloud spreads across the Florida sky, an effect visible only during dusk or dawn launches when sunlight strikes the frozen upper-atmosphere plume at just the right angle.
A luminescent jellyfish-shaped cloud spreads across the Florida sky, an effect visible only during dusk or dawn launches when sunlight strikes the frozen upper-atmosphere plume at just the right angle.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 6:33am on Tuesday, carrying cargo to the International Space Station and producing a stunning luminous 'space jellyfish' cloud seen from Georgia to New York. The CRS-35 mission delivered more than 6,300 pounds of supplies, and the Dragon capsule is due to dock autonomously with the ISS on Thursday. Photos and video circulated widely online, with NASA posting images to its own social media accounts alongside shots shared by sky watchers across several states.

The jellyfish effect is produced when fuel exhaust crystallises at high altitude and sunlight reflects off the resulting frozen ice particles — a phenomenon most visible during pre-dawn or dusk launches.

The Dragon capsule, flying its fourth cargo mission, rode a booster on its eighth flight; that booster returned to land at Cape Canaveral after stage separation.

Anyone who missed Tuesday's spectacle has another opportunity on Monday 19 October, when a second Falcon 9 will depart from the same pad at 6:30am ET.

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