{"id":130375,"date":"2026-01-20T14:05:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T14:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/130375\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T14:05:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T14:05:54","slug":"it-was-a-spacex-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/130375\/","title":{"rendered":"It was a SpaceX launch"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN (KXAN) \u2014 Multiple Central Texas viewers reached out to KXAN Sunday evening after spotting a slow-moving, glowing object drifting across the sky.<\/p>\n

Around 7:07 p.m., a bright light that \u201cmoved very slowly\u201d and didn\u2019t look like a plane was spotted over the city of Kyle, according to a viewer.<\/p>\n

As unusual as it looked, the mystery didn\u2019t last long. The light was almost certainly the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching a batch of 29 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral on Sunday, Jan. 18, according to SpaceX\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

RELATED: What was that mysterious light flying over Central Texas Sunday night? <\/a><\/p>\n

The SpaceX website mentioned the rocket lifted off at 5:31 p.m. CST, sending its Starlink 6-100 mission into low Earth orbit.<\/p>\n

\"Light<\/p>\n

Light seen in the sky over Shiloh, Texas, related to a SpaceX launch on Jan. 18, 2025 (Courtesy: Jeff)<\/p>\n

\"Light<\/p>\n

Light seen in the sky over Shiloh, Texas, related to a SpaceX launch on Jan. 18, 2026 (Courtesy: Jeff)<\/p>\n

\"Light<\/p>\n

Light seen in the sky over Diamond Trail in Lago Vista, Texas, related to a SpaceX launch on Jan. 18, 2026 (KXAN Viewer Photo)<\/p>\n

\"Light<\/p>\n

Light in the sky seen over Central Texas related to a Jan. 18, 2026, SpaceX launch (KXAN Viewer Photo)<\/p>\n

\"Light<\/p>\n

Light seen in the sky over Shiloh, Texas, related to a SpaceX launch on Jan. 18, 2026 (Courtesy: Jeff)<\/p>\n

\"Light<\/p>\n

Light seen in the sky over Austin, Texas, related to a SpaceX launch on Jan. 18, 2026 (KXAN Viewer Photo)<\/p>\n

This launch created a bright plume visible across parts of Texas, a sight Central Texans have seen before. In past cases<\/a>, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that similar mysterious lights over the region were caused by SpaceX launches passing high overhead.<\/p>\n

The distinct glow and slow movement match what viewers across the state have captured during previous Starlink missions, when sunlight reflects off the rocket\u2019s exhaust or newly developed satellites.<\/p>\n

So while the sight may have looked otherworldly, unfortunately the explanation was again rooted in Earth\u2019s growing spaceflight activity.<\/p>\n

Have more videos of the sighting? Upload and send them to KXAN through our contact us form<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN (KXAN) \u2014 Multiple Central Texas viewers reached out to KXAN Sunday evening after spotting a slow-moving, glowing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,2143,8044,2223,56024,27],"class_list":{"0":"post-130375","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news","11":"tag-central-texas","12":"tag-kxan","13":"tag-spacex","14":"tag-spacex-launch","15":"tag-texas"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}