Floridians were treated to an aerial spectacle Thursday morning as the first of three rockets blasted off in the inkling glow of a young sunrise.
Just before 6:30 a.m., the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket took off from Space Launch Complex 41, carrying a U.S. Space Force satellite. The rocket pierced through a colorful mosaic of blues, purples, pinks, and oranges stretching over Florida.
Central Florida spectators wasted no time documenting the event with pictures uploaded to Twitter, remarking on the beautiful launch conditions.
The ULA rocket was the first of three to blast off Thursday. There are also plans for the Blue Origin New Shepard and the SpaceX Falcon 9 to launch within 13 hours of the Atlas V. If they’re successful, it will be the busiest day for commercial launches in the United States.
Later in the morning, Blue Origin plans to launch its NS-22 mission carrying six civilians on its sixth tourist mission. The passenger rocket will take its tourists past the Karman line — about 62 miles high — offering them a view of the blackness of space and curvature of the Earth.
Then, at around 7 p.m., SpaceX will launch its Falcon 9 rocket from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40. The rocket is carrying South Korea’s Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter — a probe set to orbit the moon and tasked with seeking future landing sites. The probe would mark Korea’s first lunar mission.
Residents and visitors are set for a day’s beautiful rocket launches. If you didn’t get a look at the sky when they flew by, Twitter users posted many images online.
Here are some of our favorites.
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