Saturday, October 8, saw SpaceX’s third Falcon 9 launch, which was as exciting as any other launch.
The space company’s Falcon 9 made quite a show by producing a rare phenomenon in the night sky called the ‘space jellyfish.’
The reusable craft embarked on the Intelsat G-33/G-34 mission on October 8, taking off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and observing this particular booster’s 14th launch and landing.
View from the droneship of Falcon 9’s launch and landing pic.twitter.com/5yYvT9bNcL
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 12, 2022
Christian Oatley, a Twitter user, “managed to see the jellyfish from Bermuda”:
Managed to see the jellyfish from Bermuda pic.twitter.com/oHVYnHSxIL
— Christian Oatley (@ChristianOatley) October 8, 2022
The footage sees the booster launching at sunset, with light from the atmosphere reflecting off the rocket plume to create a beautiful “jellyfish” effect. The screen turned orange-red just nine minutes after launch, and the booster lowered into view with a perfect landing on the drone ship.
What is a space jellyfish?
Space Jellyfish is considered to be rare but has become an often-seen phenomenon with SpaceX’s launches. It is perhaps the timing of launches where the Sun is not out in all its glory and the little beams of sunlight in the sky light up the exhaust plumes at high altitudes.
Another video was captured from the ground during a Starlink launch in May this year.
The drone ship’s onboard camera was pointed in the direction of the launch and captured the space jellyfish from a completely different standpoint.
