Was it a a plane in distress, a meteor, or a UFO?
The dazzling glowing dot with a large illuminated vapor trail behind it that appeared over the Levittown area between 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday was a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Florida and barreling toward the final frontier.
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“Don’t know what we just saw from Edgely, but it looked like a big meteor!” one reader wrote.
“Any idea what that meteor or rocket was around 7:40?” another asked.
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Residents told LevittownNow.com the sight caught them off-guard on their Saturday evening, which featured cool and clear conditions.
Credit: Hailey Rose
SpaceX, a rocket and space transportation firm founded by businessman Elon Musk 20 years ago, confirmed the trail was from their 229-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket that was transporting 52 Starlink broadband internet satellites into the sky.
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The National Science Foundation said the Starlink satellites will aid them in setting up Starlink internet service at the agency’s McMurdo Station in Antarctica.
The launch Saturday was SpaceX’s 43rd launch of 2022, with more planned for the rest of this year. SpaceX reported that more than 3,399 Starlink satellites have been launched into space in recent years.
Credit: Submitted
The rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and traveled at 17,000 mph as it soared over the Atlantic Ocean and toward space.
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With NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility sitting about 160 miles from Levittown in Virginia and rockets taking off from Florida shooting over the East Coast, the Levittown area has become a prime spot to see high-profile rocket launches over the years.
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