For those wondering, it wasn't a meteor or comet, and definitely not a UFO!
Early Sunday morning, at 6:01 a.m., SpaceX launched 60 Starlink satellites from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A few people from the U.S. east coast managed to see the stream of lights across the sky and posted some beautiful images on social media.
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/V3vn9PolF0
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 14, 2021
It was the ninth launch and landing of the Falcon 9 first stage booster. Professional photographer Peter Forister from Charlottesville, Virginia, captured some magnificent pictures of the Starlink launch:
High def photos from the SpaceX launch this morning from Central Virginia.
— Peter Forister ❄️☃️❄️ (@forecaster25) March 14, 2021
For media use CC: @rtphokie @MatthewCappucci @BriBermensolo @JustinWeather pic.twitter.com/GeRxEu45cF
Here are some other photos and videos of the launch posted by Twitter users:
At 0601 am, above a carpet of ground effect fog on LC39a, SpaceX lofted the L21 Starlink mission aboard a now 9th flown & landed 1st stage. The Falcon 9 ascent, booster recovery to drone ship and initial second stage burn can all be seen in the first image. (USSF 📷 Joshua Conti) pic.twitter.com/4sUQq5s0Hc
— Joshua Conti (@analoguepilot) March 14, 2021
I got up just before 6am Sunday to watch the Falcon 9 launch this morning. This from our front yard as SpaceX flies the Falcon 9 rocket booster for a record 9th time and delivers it's 3rd batch of Starlink satellites in 2 weeks. #spacex #falcon9 #lookup #space pic.twitter.com/HYRn6jOBVQ
— Tom Nebel (@tomnebel) March 14, 2021
A UFO to start off Sunday? @katiejbrown17 saw this in Mt Airy at 6:10am going West in the Northern sky? Any ideas??? Faded out behind trees. @JustinWeather @TonyPannWBAL @TomRodgersNews @DeniseWJZ pic.twitter.com/ANDVsrZrED
— Chris Brown (@browch05) March 14, 2021
A Maryland resident posted a timelapse video of the launch, and it's incredible!
Timelapse of the absolutely incredible twilight phenomenon from this morning’s Space X launch as seen from Maryland. Got some dslr pics too! #spacex #Falcon9 pic.twitter.com/0K5FxPKPRs
— Robbie (@RobbMDWxMedia) March 14, 2021
The Falcon 9 rocket sent these 60 StarLink communications satellites into space for internet services accessibility in remote areas of the world. The launch deployed all the satellites in orbit successfully.
Deployment of 60 Starlink satellites confirmed pic.twitter.com/AMLK4R9dMn
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 14, 2021
Did you get a glimpse of the launch? Tell us in the comments.