Humongous Space Jellyfish forms soon after liftoff of SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink 6-95 mission near sunset at 5:18 p.m. EST (2218 UTC) on Dec. 2, 2025 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. As seen from rear top decks of Carnival Cruise ship Venezia then located between Grand Turk and Puerto Rico in the North Atlantic Ocean. Clouds seen near the horizon as the Falcon 9 flew right over us. Credit: Ken Kremer / Space UpClose
NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN on CARNIVAL VENEZIA CRUISE SHIP – 2 Dec 2025 – An absolutely humongous space jellyfish formed at sunset over the North Atlantic Ocean on Dec. 2! – and the Space UpClose team of Ken Kremer and Jean Wright were so lucky to witness it – along with a bunch of folks we motivated to watch with and saw the Falcon 9 rocket soar directly over us and the ship and its smokestack and radar dome – happening during our recent cruise aboard the Carnival Venezia Cruise Ship to the Eastern & Southern Caribbean
This was beyond doubt one of the most fantastically magnificent launches I have ever seen and we were nowhere near the Cape Canaveral launch pad – and the jelly fish covered at least 50 degrees of the night sky above the Atlantic Ocean horizon
Humongous Space Jellyfish forms soon after liftoff of SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink 6-95 mission near sunset at 5:18 p.m. EST (2218 UTC) on Dec. 2, 2025 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. As seen from rear top decks of Carnival Cruise ship Venezia then located between Grand Turk and Puerto Rico in the North Atlantic Ocean. Clouds seen near the horizon as the Falcon 9 flew right over us. Credit: Ken Kremer / Space UpClose
Rather we were located between Grand Turk and Puerto Rico some 800 miles Southeast and away from the Cape – and not sure we would see anything at all!
Especially since massive clouds were blocking our view until the final minutes before liftoff when they passed away as the ship was sailing southeastwards
Humongous Space Jellyfish forms soon after liftoff of SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink 6-95 mission near sunset at 5:18 p.m. EST (2218 UTC) on Dec. 2, 2025 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. As seen from rear top decks of Carnival Cruise ship Venezia then located between Grand Turk and Puerto Rico in the North Atlantic Ocean. Credit: Ken Kremer / Space UpClose
The SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink 6-95 mission lifted off near sunset at 5:18 p.m. EST (2218 UTC) on Dec. 2 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida
The Falcon 9 rocket was soaring on a south-easterly trajectory upon departing from Florida’s Space Coast.
Thus we were able to see it since our ship was also heading south east and we were positioned just north of the northern coast of Puerto Rico and virtually right along the rockets flight path
Enjoy our photos for Space UpClose.
x
Enthusiastic cruise crowd gathers at 230 a.m. EST – to watch SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink 6-86 mission lift off at 2:44 a.m. EST (0744 UTC) from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Dec. 1, 2025. As seen from the rear top deck of Carnival Cruise ship Venezia off the coast of Ft Lauderdale and The Bahamas. Credit: Ken Kremer / Space UpClose
x
Humongous Space Jellyfish forms soon after liftoff of SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink 6-95 mission near sunset at 5:18 p.m. EST (2218 UTC) on Dec. 2, 2025 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. As seen from rear top decks of Carnival Cruise ship Venezia then located between Grand Turk and Puerto Rico in the North Atlantic Ocean. Clouds seen near the horizon as the Falcon 9 flew right over us. Credit: Ken Kremer / Space UpClose
Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news. Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area, active in outreach and interviewed regularly on TV and radio about space topics. Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events.
NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN on CARNIVAL VENEZIA CRUISE SHIP – Dec 1, 2025. If you want a chance to see a rocket launch while cruising you might consider joining the Space UpClose team of Jean Wright and Ken Kremer! Even on vacation we do space outreach wherever its reasonable So, Just hours after departing on our 2-week cruise aboard the Carnival
SPACE VIEW PARK, FL – Thick clouds greeted the 48 hour weather delayed liftoff of the 4th batch of operational broadband satellites for the Amazon Leo constellation in the ‘dead-of-night’ aboard the most powerful version of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla early Tuesday, Dec. 16. A United Launch Alliance (ULA)