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SpaceX's Starlink Launch Leaves Stunning Rainbow Cloud In The Sky

SpaceX's Starlink Launch Leaves Stunning Rainbow Cloud In The Sky

The moment was caught on camera

Amelia Ward

Amelia Ward

SpaceX launched another 58 Starlink satellites last night, and the rocket's exhaust created an incredible rainbow-coloured cloud over the sky.

On Saturday morning at 5.21am Eastern Time (9am GMT), the skies over Florida were still dark enough to catch a Falcon 9 rocket beaming more satellites into space as part of the Starlink-8 mission.

Elon Musk's space exploration company is putting the satellites into orbit in an aim to deliver high speed broadband to the whole of the earth before the end of 2020.

Starlink-8 was the eighth batch of satellites to go up, marking the company's 540th satellite that has been put into space.

The latest Falcon 9 launch.
PA

The rocket could be seen taking off from Cape Canaveral in Florida, then ascending up over the Atlantic Ocean, creating a glowing cloud, which people in multiple states, as far as Alabama could see.

Photos and videos show just how incredible the man-made celestial display was, with one photographer documenting a long-exposure version.

The mission aims to eventually have tens of thousands of orbiting routers which are designed to improve the planet's broadband internet access.

The company's website explains: "With performance that far surpasses that of traditional satellite internet, and a global network unbounded by ground infrastructure limitations, Starlink will deliver high speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable, expensive, or completely unavailable."

As well as the Starlink satellites, three Planet SkySat satellites were launched - another kind of fancy satellite. As Planet explain, the satellites will operate at a 'mid-inclination' orbit of 53 degrees and will offer 'more targeted coverage and raw image capacity in key geographic regions'.

SpaceX

When people tuned in to watch astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley launch to the International Space Station on SpaceX's live stream last month, there were a number of space fanatics that spotted unidentified flying objects (otherwise known as UFOs).

Ufologist Pedro Ramirez wrote on his Facebook page: "May 30, 2020. So far two UFOs have been detected during launch, the first of them can be observed very close to the stratosphere, the next one seems to be closer to the Crew Dragon, however we are still checking the captured material from ground by the fans.

"During the mission's development, we will be looking out for everything that could arise around UFOs in space, especially those who may be close to the time of coupling with the ISS... It's time to believe."

Featured Image Credit: SpaceX

Topics: elon musk, SpaceX, US News, space