The Florida skies lit up in the early hours of Monday when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket created a glowing, cloud-like trail during its return to Earth.
The spectacle came after Elon Musk's SpaceX launched its 32nd uncrewed cargo mission (CRS-32) to the International Space Station.
As the rocket's first stage separated from the second stage and began heading back to land, it performed a special maneuver called a "boostback burn."
This burn, done high in the atmosphere, changed the rocket's course and produced a burst of engine exhaust that glowed against the pre-dawn sky, making it look like a colourful space nebula.
SpaceX shared the pictures of the spectacle on X.
Though such sights often occur during Falcon 9 landings at Cape Canaveral's Landing Zones 1 and 2, each one is different, shaped by timing, altitude, and weather. The mission launched from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center and wrapped up with a smooth landing just a few km away at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
This launch marked SpaceX's third Falcon 9 rocket launch in less than 48 hours, sending a batch of satellites into space as part of the Bandwagon-3 rideshare mission. This was SpaceX's 245th orbital launch from Cape Canaveral and the 300th overall from that site.
One of the key payloads on this flight was Phoenix 1, a small reentry capsule built by German company Atmos Space Cargo. If all goes to plan, it will splash down in the Atlantic Ocean about 2000 km off the coast of Brazil after circling the Earth once. This would make it the first-ever reentry mission by a European company, according to Atmos.
"Our mission is to revolutionise space logistics, enabling groundbreaking advancements in microgravity research, in-orbit manufacturing, defence applications and life sciences," the company says on its website.
SpaceX used a Falcon 9 booster numbered B1090 for the flight. This was the booster's third launch.
