Rocket launch paints jellyfish across US skies
Sunlight caught the exhaust plume of SpaceX’s latest cargo mission as it rose from Florida before dawn.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 launch produced a glowing, jellyfish-shaped plume visible across parts of the eastern United States on Tuesday morning. The unusual appearance was caused by sunlight illuminating exhaust high above the Earth shortly after liftoff.
The rocket left Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 6:33am local time on 13 October. NASA said the Falcon 9 was carrying an uncrewed Dragon spacecraft on SpaceX’s 35th Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station.
The launch took place before sunrise for many observers on the coast. Although the ground was still dark, the rocket and its exhaust had climbed high enough to catch sunlight. NASA described the resulting shape as a visual phenomenon known as a “jellyfish”, rather than a new type of cloud or an atmospheric emergency.
Space.com reported that the plume broadened as the exhaust expanded in the thinner air at high altitude. The combination of gases, water vapour, rocket motion and the angle of the early sunlight created the bright head and trailing shapes that observers photographed from several states.
The spectacle accompanied a routine but substantial cargo flight. NASA said Dragon was carrying more than 6,300 pounds of scientific investigations, supplies and hardware. Its load includes the final pair of roll-out solar arrays planned for the station’s power-system upgrade.
The mission also carries experiments involving artificial retinas, three-dimensional heart-tissue models, brain organoids, glass formation and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These are research projects in microgravity; the launch itself does not establish that any resulting medical treatment or commercial product will work on Earth.
Dragon was scheduled to reach the station on Thursday 15 October and dock autonomously with the Harmony module. NASA planned to begin coverage of the rendezvous at 9:15am Eastern time. Until docking and the subsequent work are completed, the mission’s scientific results remain future possibilities rather than findings.
The event illustrates why the timing and trajectory of a launch can matter as much to observers as the rocket itself. Similar glowing plumes have appeared after other pre-dawn or twilight launches, but this instance attracted attention because the flight path carried the illuminated exhaust along a large section of the US East Coast.
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NASA confirms the launch time, vehicle, cargo mission and illuminated plume. Space.com independently explains the plume’s appearance and its visibility along the US East Coast.
- confirmed The Falcon 9 launched from Cape Canaveral at 6:33am local time on 13 October 2026. — Confirmed in NASA’s launch release and image article. source
- confirmed Sunlight illuminated the exhaust plume high above the Earth, producing the jellyfish-like appearance. — NASA explains the visual phenomenon in its 14 October image article. source
- confirmed Dragon was carrying more than 6,300 pounds of supplies, hardware and scientific investigations. — NASA’s mission release gives the cargo figure and mission description. source
- confirmed The mission included experiments involving artificial retinas, heart tissue and brain organoids. — NASA lists these investigations as part of the CRS-35 payload. source
Editor's note
The launch and visual phenomenon are confirmed by NASA and independently described by Space.com. The medical and materials research is still experimental; no breakthrough claim is made.Sources
More on this in other media
- iNews — „spacex falcon 9”
- BBC News — „spacex falcon 9”
- The Guardian — „spacex falcon 9”