SpaceX ‘jellyfish cloud’ expected to light up Maryland skies Tuesday morning

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s actually a “jellyfish cloud” from a SpaceX rocket launch in Florida that could shine across Maryland skies Tuesday morning.

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will lift off aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 6:33 a.m. ET on Tuesday, SpaceX officials said in a release.

The Space Jellyfish Predictor shows that the glow could likely be seen across Maryland. Experts predict the peak elevation of the rocket at about 6:40 a.m.

Marylanders can watch the live webcast of the rocket’s liftoff or catch the sparkle in person if they wake up before the sun rises. Forecasters from the Baltimore/Washington office of the National Weather Service predict clear, sunny skies much of Tuesday, making for a perfect view.

The term “jellyfish cloud” comes from the shape that forms as hot gases expand from the head of the rocket and outward due to lower atmospheric pressure, according to The Washington Post. The local news network Patch reported sightings of the “jellyfish cloud” across Maryland in late August after Falcon 9 launched 29 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The Dragon will be carrying more than 6,300 pounds of supplies for the crew aboard the International Space Station and, upon arrival, will dock to the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module, according to a news release from NASA.

Founded by Elon Musk, SpaceX is a Texas-based company working on “making humanity multiplanetary” and a spacefaring civilization by building reusable rockets. The rocket being launched on Tuesday, the Dragon, has completed 57 missions and 52 visits to the International Space Station thus far and has taken humans to the space station and returned significant amounts of cargo to Earth, according to the company’s website.

SpaceX went public on June 12, opening at $150 per share, peaking at $176.52 per share, and closing the day at $160.95 per share, making it one of the largest Initial Public Offerings (IPO). The company’s most recent earnings report showed revenue growing 29% year-over-year to $962 million, but expenses, particularly for the space division, also increased by $389 million year-over-year, SpaceX officials reported. Representatives for SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Musk, 54, is a political ally of President Donald Trump. He leads Tesla, which manufactures electric vehicles and semi-autonomous driver assistance systems, and owns X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. Musk is the richest man in the world with a net worth of roughly $839 billion, according to Forbes.