Beautiful Predawn Space Jellyfish forms over Space Coast After Record Breaking 36th launch of Falcon 9 1st stage on Starlink 10-42 Mission: Photos

Space Jellyfish forms over Florida Space Coast after record breaking Falcon 9 launch for 36th time – as seen from the ground by Ken Kremer of Space UpClose and featured on WESH 2 NBC News Orlando & WFTV ABC News Orlando on July 9, 2026. SpaceX Falcon 9 B1067.36 liftoff took place on July 9, 2026 at 5:25 a.m. ET (0925 UTC) for launch of 29 Starlink broadband internet satellites to low-Earth orbit (LEO) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Screenshot Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/WESH 2 NBC News Orlando

MELBOURNE, FL – The predawn skies blossomed as a beautiful and colorful and long lasting space ‘Jellyfish’ formed over the Florida Space Coast, after a SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage launched to space and back for a record breaking 36th time on Thursday, July 9.

On Thursday, July 9 at 5:25 a.m. ET (0925 UTC) Falcon 9 launched 29 Starlink broadband internet satellites to low-Earth orbit (LEO) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Space Jellyfish forms over Florida Space Coast after record breaking Falcon 9 launch for 36th time – as seen from the ground by Ken Kremer of Space UpClose and featured on WESH 2 NBC News & WFTV ABC News Orlando on July 9, 2026. SpaceX Falcon 9 B1067.36 liftoff took place on July 9, 2026 at 5:25 a.m. ET (0925 UTC) for launch of 29 Starlink broadband internet satellites to low-Earth orbit (LEO) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com

My Jellyfish photos were featured on WESH 2 NBC News Orlando and WFTV ABC News Orlando – as a ‘View from the Ground.’  See lead photo

Space Jellyfish forms over Florida Space Coast after record breaking Falcon 9 launch for 36th time – as seen from the ground by Ken Kremer of Space UpClose and featured on WESH 2 NBC News Orlando on July 9, 2026. SpaceX Falcon 9 B1067.36 liftoff took place on July 9, 2026 at 5:25 a.m. ET (0925 UTC) for launch of 29 Starlink broadband internet satellites to low-Earth orbit (LEO) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com

We watched from Melbourne, Florida.

The fleet leading Falcon 9 booster B1067 roared to life on the mission dubbed Starlink 10-42 – and soared to low Earth orbit on a northeasterly trajectory

The jellyfish formed about 2 minutes after liftoff after stage separation

Space Jellyfish forms over Florida Space Coast after record breaking Falcon 9 launch for 36th time – as seen from the ground by Ken Kremer of Space UpClose and featured on WESH 2 NBC News & WFTV ABC News Orlando on July 9, 2026. SpaceX Falcon 9 B1067.36 liftoff took place on July 9, 2026 at 5:25 a.m. ET (0925 UTC) for launch of 29 Starlink broadband internet satellites to low-Earth orbit (LEO) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com

As the rocket rises from darkness into daylight, the sun illuminates the exhaust plume particles if the angle is just right and clouds don’t interfere.

The Jellyfish effect can usually take form if the rocket launch takes place within a period of an hour before and after sunrise.

With this launch SpaceX has more than 10,700 Starlink satellites in LEO.

Space Jellyfish forms over Florida Space Coast after record breaking Falcon 9 launch for 36th time – as seen from the ground by Ken Kremer of Space UpClose and featured on WESH 2 NBC News & WFTV ABC News Orlando on July 9, 2026. SpaceX Falcon 9 B1067.36 liftoff took place on July 9, 2026 at 5:25 a.m. ET (0925 UTC) for launch of 29 Starlink broadband internet satellites to low-Earth orbit (LEO) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com

This was the 36th flight for the first stage booster tail number 1067.36 supporting this mission, which previously launched CRS-22, Crew-3, Turksat 5B, Crew-4, CRS-25, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13G, SES O3B mPOWER-A, PSN SATRIA, Telkomsat Merah Putih 2, Galileo, Koreasat-6A, and now 25 Starlink missions.

First flight of B1067 took place in June 2022 on the CRS-22 cargo resupply mission tpo the ISS

Following stage separation, the first stage landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship (ASOG), which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

 

This counts as the 160th landing on ASOG and the 635th booster landing to date for SpaceX

 

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Ken Kremer

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.

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