Plate Nº 60 · recorded October 18, 2026
Space & AstronomyReported finding
SpaceX Launch Paints a Giant Jellyfish Across the Eastern U.S. Sky
A Falcon 9 launch at 6:33 a.m. EDT on October 13, 2026 created a glowing jellyfish over the eastern U.S. while hauling medical experiments to the ISS.
By Nathan Brooks3 min read529 words
In brief
- A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched at 6:33 a.m. EDT on October 13, 2026 from Cape Canaveral, creating a jellyfish-shaped exhaust glow over the eastern U.S.
- The flight was SpaceX's 35th commercial resupply mission for NASA to the International Space Station.
- Dragon carried the final set of IROSA solar arrays, scheduled for installation later this fall.
- Cargo includes experiments on artificial retinas, 3D heart tissue, new glass formation and brain organoids.
- Brain organoid research could inform treatments for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lit up the pre-dawn sky across the eastern United States on October 13, 2026, forming a glowing jellyfish shape as sunlight struck its exhaust plume high above Earth.
The rocket lifted off at 6:33 a.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, carrying a Dragon spacecraft packed with supplies, equipment and experiments bound for the International Space Station.
Why did the sky look like a jellyfish?
The display has a simple physical cause. The launch happened close to sunrise, so while observers on the ground stood in darkness, the rocket's expanding exhaust plumes climbed high enough for sunlight to reach them. The plumes glowed against the darker sky below, spreading into a shape that resembled a jellyfish.
Skywatchers call this a "jellyfish," and it's a well-known effect of launches timed near sunrise or sunset. It doesn't happen on most flights, which explains why this one drew attention from observers across a broad stretch of the eastern U.S.
What was the rocket carrying?
This was SpaceX's 35th commercial resupply mission for NASA — a steady cargo line that has kept the orbiting laboratory stocked since the first contracted flight more than a decade ago.
The Dragon spacecraft is delivering:
- The final set of International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays, known as IROSAs, scheduled for installation later this fall to supply electricity to the station
- Scientific experiments and essential supplies for the crew
- Equipment for investigations in medicine and materials science
What science is on board?
The cargo's most eye-catching payload is an experiment on manufacturing artificial retinas in microgravity. The near absence of gravity creates conditions that can't easily be reproduced on Earth, and the research could help develop technologies to restore vision in people with certain forms of vision loss.
A second investigation will use 3D heart tissue models — lab-grown structures that mimic real heart tissue — to support more efficient drug testing methods during future space missions.
Two additional experiments round out the manifest. One will examine how a new type of glass forms in microgravity. The other will study brain organoids: miniature models of brain tissue grown from cells. Researchers hope these models can identify new targets for treating neurological conditions, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis.
How firm are the medical prospects?
It's worth separating the display from the delivery. The jellyfish in the sky is a certainty — photographers across the eastern U.S. captured it. The medical payoff, though, remains preliminary. The experiments aboard are investigations, not treatments; they could advance work on blindness and neurodegenerative disease, but results will take time, and not every space-flown experiment leads to a therapy.
The solar arrays, by contrast, have a concrete schedule. Installation is planned for later this fall, completing the IROSA series and bolstering the station's power supply for the research ahead.
For now, the mission's most public moment came in its first minutes after liftoff, when a routine climb to orbit briefly turned the morning sky into something observers won't soon forget.
via scitechdaily.com (Original)
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Market editor covering companies, deals and strategy in general science news at SciBeat.
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