SpaceX ‘jellyfish cloud’ lights up early-morning Maryland skies

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s actually a “jellyfish cloud” from a SpaceX rocket launch in Florida, and it shone across Maryland skies Tuesday morning.

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft lifted off aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 6:33 a.m. ET , SpaceX officials said in a release.

The glow could be seen streaking across Maryland around 6:40 a.m., with those who got up before sunrise treated to clear skies. Anyone who wasn’t up early enough can rewatch the webcast of the rocket’s liftoff.

The term “jellyfish cloud” comes from the shape that forms as hot gases expand from the head of the rocket and outward due to lower atmospheric pressure, according to The Washington Post. The local news network Patch reported sightings of the “jellyfish cloud” across Maryland in late August after Falcon 9 launched 29 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral.

The Dragon is carrying more than 6,300 pounds of supplies for the crew aboard the International Space Station and, upon arrival, will dock at the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module, according to a news release from NASA.

Founded by Elon Musk, Texas-based SpaceX is developing reusable rockets to make humanity multiplanetary and advance space exploration. The spacecraft launched Tuesday, the Dragon, has completed 57 missions and 52 visits to the International Space Station thus far and has taken humans to the space station and returned significant amounts of cargo to Earth, according to the company’s website.

SpaceX went public on June 12, opening at $150 per share, peaking at $176.52 per share, and closing the day at $160.95 per share, making it the largest initial public offering in history. The company’s most recent earnings report showed revenue growing 29% year-over-year to $962 million, but expenses, particularly for the space division, also increased by $389 million year-over-year, SpaceX officials reported. Representatives for SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.

Musk, 54, is a political ally of President Donald Trump. He leads Tesla, which manufactures electric vehicles and semi-autonomous driver-assistance systems, and owns X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. Musk is the richest man in the world, with a net worth of roughly $839 billion, according to Forbes.