SpaceX launched a rocket on Sunday night that was visible in skies over Connecticut.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., more commonly known as SpaceX, launched its Falcon 9 rocket at 9:56 p.m. on Sunday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The rocket was visible to Connecticut residents by 10 p.m. in areas like Ivoryton and Willimantic, according to users on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in Connecticut at 10:05 p.m. (Courtesy of X user @MrJohnson860)
SpaceX, one of billionaire Elon Musk’s companies, said the rocket launch brought 29Â Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The rocket landed on SpaceX’s drone ship, named Just Read the Instructions, in the Atlantic Ocean.
The launch was the 26th flight for the first-stage booster supporting that mission, the company said.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket in Connecticut on March 2, 2026. (Courtesy of X user @Ericcannavet)
Falcon 9 is the “world’s first orbital class reusable rocket,” according to SpaceX’s website. The two-stage rocket was designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the “reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond,” the company’s states.
In February, Falcon 9 also was visible in Connecticut after SpaceX launched the rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station – but the rocket had four people onboard during that trip.
Connecticut native and Mission Pilot Jack Hathaway was one of the four passengers on Falcon 9’s Feb. 13 trip. Hathaway and his fellow members of the SpaceX Crew-12 mission docked at the International Space Station that orbits Earth to begin their eight-month stay.
Contains previous reporting by Staff Writers Josh LaBella and Peter Yankowski.
This article originally published at SpaceX’s Florida rocket launch spotted in Connecticut skies on Sunday night.