Police Drone Catches SpaceX Rocket Streaking Over South Carolina

A police drone on a morning training flight in South Carolina caught a SpaceX rocket streaking across the dawn sky after it launched from Florida, hundreds of miles away.

Footage released by the Easley Police Department on October 20 shows the rocket’s bright exhaust trail climbing above the horizon. It then swells into a glowing, jellyfish-like cloud, with two bright points of light moving inside it against the pastel sky.

The department said its officers were doing morning drone training when they spotted “one of the SpaceX launches from Cape Canaveral.” The Falcon 9 lifted off at 7:04 a.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on the Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission, carrying 32 payloads.

The launch, shortly before sunrise, created a “space jellyfish” effect. Sunlight lit up the rocket’s exhaust high in the atmosphere while the ground was still dark, and the glow was seen across Florida and up the Southeast coast.