MELBOURNE, FL — No, it wasn’t a UFO spotted over the skies of Florida at sunset on Oct. 13. It was a Starship.
SpaceX’s massive Starship lifted off from Brownsville, Texas, on its 11th flight on Oct. 13. But as it soared into the sky, it was visible from its possible future launch location — Cape Canaveral.
The launch occurred at 7:23 p.m. ET and with the sunset lighting conditions being just right, a small “jellyfish” effect appeared in the skies over the Space Coast about 10 minutes past the launch. The SpaceX test flight proved to be a success thus far, meeting the company's set objectives.
Its last mission, in August, ended a streak of testing failures earlier this year as SpaceX pushed to stress-test features for its total reusability. SpaceX is hoping to start launching a more advanced Starship prototype equipped with features tailored for moon and Mars missions.
"We've done everything we can think of to make that next test flight, Flight 11, successful," SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said at a conference in Paris last month. "But, you know, you never know when you're going to get punched in the face, so we'll see."
