Rocket Ignition!

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May 6, 2022
SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink

Launched: 5:42 AM EDT
Launch site: Space Launch Complex (SLC) 39A, Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Booster: 12th Flight
Payload: 53 Starlink satellites

Viewing Site: Chiefland, FL

VIDEOS

iPhone Shot

PHOTOS

Rocket-Fueled Noctilucent Clouds
Plus a Conjunction of the planets Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn

After the rocket went up, over the next hour, these clouds formed from the rocket's exhaust in the upper atmosphere.
As the rocket streaks through the mesosphere, water-rich vapors emerging from the engine form a frosty rime around specks of meteor debris.
These meteor-seeded ice crystals together make a noctilucent cloud.

NLCs naturally form from water vapor rising from the surface of Earth in summer, which gradually moves up to the edge of space.
Rockets, by exhaust spraying water vapor into the mesosphere, greatly accelerate this process.

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Booster history: Crew Demo-2, ANASIS-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1, Transporter-3, and now seven Starlink missions.

Target orbit: Low Earth Orbit (LEO)