Lucky 13 Strikes Again
CRS-35 Resupply Mission Launches Today
In spaceflight, the stars seem to have aligned for Crew-13. Today, October 13, a SpaceX resupply mission lifted off for the International Space Station, where the crew has been orbiting Earth, launching less than two weeks earlier. At 6:33 am EDT this morning, from SLC-40 on Cape Canaveral SFS in Florida, the SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off and put on a brilliant display in the pre-dawn sky.
During stage separation, the sky erupted into the rarely seen space jellyfish effect. High above Earth, the Falcon 9’s expanding exhaust plume caught the Sun’s rays, even as the Sun remained below the horizon for observers on the ground. The result was a luminous display for onlookers below where much of Florida remained shrouded in the dark of night.
Moments later, the spectacle continued with a sonic boom as the returning booster touched down at Landing Zone 40, adjacent to the launch pad.
And as if the morning needed one more extraordinary sight, the International Space Station made its own appearance, gliding across the predawn sky along a similar trajectory. At approximately 250 miles above Earth, the ISS travels at nearly 17,500 miles per hour, completing an orbit roughly every 90 minutes. Like the rocket’s exhaust plume, the station was visible because it caught the sunlight while the ground below remained in darkness.
The Dragon spacecraft atop the Falcon 9 was bound for that very outpost, carrying supplies and a pair of solar arrays designed to provide additional power to the orbiting laboratory.
In a single morning, the sky offered a remarkable perspective on the interconnectedness of human spaceflight: a rocket rising from Florida, a booster returning home, and a space station racing overhead, all illuminated by the same Sun, even as we stood beneath a darkened sky.
