Share to ClassroomSpaceX Rocket Makes Bright 'Jellyfish' in Sky
Early on Tuesday, 13 October, people in the south-east of the United States saw a strange sight. Just before sunrise, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. It left a huge, glowing cloud in the sky that looked like a jellyfish. People saw this space jellyfish in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. In photos, it was bluish-white with some orange and rainbow colours.
The cloud was not dangerous. According to NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) , it glowed because sunlight hit the gas that came out of the rocket. The rocket's engines produce water vapour and carbon dioxide. High in the sky, the air is very cold, so these gases turn into ice crystals, which are tiny pieces of ice. Around sunrise, the sun can light up this high cloud while the ground is still dark.
The rocket carried a Dragon capsule, a small spacecraft with no people inside, to the International Space Station (ISS) . This is SpaceX's 35th cargo mission to the station for NASA. These missions usually bring food, clothes, medical supplies and science experiments. The capsule was expected to reach the station on Thursday, 15 October. The mission should end in November.
