Monday morning SpaceX launch could serve up space jellyfish encore

Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel on Oct 18, 2026

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The time is right, but the weather might not cooperate as SpaceX has lined up a predawn launch Monday that could offer viewers another serving of space jellyfish.

SpaceX’s launch last week created the effect of the expanding nebula that was seen among clear skies all the way up to Washington, D.C. Closer to the launch site in Florida, the massive post-launch cloud formation was among the most impressive ever seen, said local photographers.

Could it happen again?

Well, a Falcon 9 on the Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission is targeting liftoff at 6:30 a.m. just under an hour before the 7:25 a.m. sunrise, although the rocket has a one-hour launch window.

After lifting off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex, the exhaust from the rocket could once again capture the light of the sun in the upper atmosphere, creating the jellyfish effect.

Weather, though, could be a factor that could delay the launch or at least make it less visible across the state. Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron forecasts only a 55% chance for good conditions at the launch site as well as listing a moderate-to-high chance of bad conditions for the rocket booster recovery attempt downrange.

The cold front that moved through Central Florida this weekend is expected to stall over South Florida, bringing a liftoff wind hazard as well as the possibility of cumulus clouds that could violate launch rules.

The first-stage booster for this mission is making its 19th trip to space and will aim for a landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas stationed in the Atlantic.

A delay to Tuesday would have the same one-hour window that opens at 6:30 a.m. ahead of sunrise, and the weather chances improve to 85% at the launch site, but still with a forecast moderate concern for conditions at the booster landing location.

This would be the 60th launch from all providers in 2026 from the Space Coast with SpaceX having flown all but seven of those. SpaceX, though, has dialed back its Florida-based launch plans — which led to a record 109 launches from all providers in 2025 — as it focuses on building up its Starship and Super Heavy launch tower at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39-A.

What had been pacing to be a launch every three days last year has been a rarity in the last two months. SpaceX has only flown four other times since Aug. 30, and the other launch providers have yet to announce new targets for their return to flight.

United Launch Alliance is still trying to return to the launch pad before the end of the year, with its Vulcan rocket working through issues seen on its last flight earlier this year. ULA’s Atlas V, though, could beat Vulcan, which has only flown four times, as Boeing’s Starliner might be ready to fly as early as this December for an uncrewed mission to the space station, according to NASA. ULA last flew on July 2.

Blue Origin, meanwhile, flew its New Glenn rocket successfully once this year, but the launch pad at Canaveral’s Launch Complex 36 was heavily damaged from a massive explosion during a rocket test hot fire back in May, so Jeff Bezos’ company has been in rebuild mode trying to get back to flight readiness at LC-36 before the end of the year. The lone New Glenn flight this year was on April 19.

NASA flew the other launch with the flight of its Space Launch System rocket topped with the Orion spacecraft on the Artemis II lunar flyby mission taking off from KSC’s LC-39B on April 1. SLS won’t fly again until at least mid 2027 for Artemis III, although NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman is slated to update that mission’s progress in a press conference from KSC this Friday.

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