A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 6:33 a.m. EDT on October 13, 2026, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. As the rocket climbed, sunlight illuminated its expanding exhaust plumes high in the atmosphere, creating a glowing shape resembling a jellyfish. This optical effect, called a "jellyfish," occurs when a rocket launches near sunrise or sunset and the exhaust becomes visible against the darker sky below. The illuminated plumes were visible across the eastern United States.
The Dragon spacecraft carried NASA's 35th commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station. Cargo included the final set of International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays, or IROSAs, scheduled for installation later in the fall to provide additional electrical power to the orbiting laboratory.
The mission also transported scientific experiments. One investigation will manufacture artificial retinas in microgravity, potentially developing technologies to restore vision in people with certain forms of vision loss. Another will use 3D heart tissue models to support development of more efficient drug testing methods. Additional experiments will examine how new types of glass form in microgravity and investigate brain organoids, miniature models of brain tissue that could help identify new targets for treating neurological conditions including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and multiple sclerosis.