SpaceX CRS-35 this morning. Falcon 9 out of Cape Canaveral, 6:33am. Shot from Tampa, 140 miles from the pad, in twilight. The elusive space jellyfish. When the rocket is already up in sunlight while the ground is still dark. In this case a Falcon 9 First stage boosts back toward LZ-40 and the Second stage keeps climbing toward the ISS. Both burns dump vapor and exhaust into really thin air, it freezes and spreads, and the rising sun lights that cloud from below. You’re standing in shadow looking at something that’s already in sunrise. Scientific Magic. That’s why you get the blue bell and the gold and red tentacles, rising into sunrise. Same idea as noctilucent clouds too… ice crystals form high enough to catch the sun at night except these aren’t the polar night-shining clouds though. This is rocket exhaust in the upper atmosphere. What is amazing is that it can hang there for a while and look completely wrong, like something that doesn’t belong. People who don’t know think it’s an alien invasion but it’s just a Falcon 9 launching and landing. Besides the rocket nebula shots, these orbital sunrise frames are the ones I chase the most. If you’re going to shoot a dawn launch from Florida, get somewhere with a clean eastern sky and expose for the plume, not the rocket. The sky around you is still night. The show is sunrise in space. Photo Credit: me

Amazing jellyfish this morning by the US Capital building in Washington, D.C. from @SpaceX CRS 35 rocket! @spacejellyalert @capitalweather @JustinWeather @WashingtonianWx @TonyPannWBAL @NationalMallNPS @visitthecapitol

September was a big month for test operations across our sites. 📍 NASA Stennis, MS Stage 2 completed its first wet dress rehearsal! The team put the stage through flight-like propellant loading, COPV fills, engine chill operations, and a simulated stage 1 ascent timeline, building toward its first integrated hot fire. 📍 Long Beach, CA All 13 Aeon R engines are installed on the thrust structure and are moving through integrated gimbal testing, validating their ability to pivot precisely to steer and stabilize the vehicle during flight.

Stage 2 has officially left the rocket factory for the last time. 😢🫡 Now in Moses Lake, WA, it will undergo cryo proof testing and then a hotfire campaign with its Andromeda engine before shipment to our launch site in Cape Canaveral, FL.

It's TFR Day! I spotted them hauling away the COPV, if it was tested, it didnt pop. So, TFR isnt for that. Stay tuned at to see what the cameras may pick up.

The first Starship to return to its launch site, Ship 40's journey took it across air, space, and sea. Now that it is vertical alongside three other Starships in a Megabay at Starbase, it will provide first-of-its-kind data on a flown Starship heatshield, Raptor engines, avionics, and more.

A new TFR aka Temporary Flight Restriction, has dropped. This could either be for the @Tesla Roadster event or , it could be for whatever is at Tarp Tower. Follow along on our 24/7 stream as our cams may pick up what comes of this test. So exciting.

Booster 23 is on its way to Masseys test site for its cryo campaign. Follow us as we track it to its destination and see/hear how much fun we have in this community. Love @NASASpaceflight and its team. *listen to the audio*

Over at The Farm (McGregor) , @Tesla and team are back at practicing for the Roadster Reveal in 3 days time , Oct 15th. Stay tuned for tests from @SpaceX of their Raptor and Merlin engines as well as the just about daily tests of the Falcon 9 Stage 2. Oh, and we has moos.