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Falcon Heavy | Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope — what you saw in the sky & launch recap

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is a NASA infrared space telescope with a 2.4 m (7.9 ft) wide field of view primary mirror and two scientific instruments. The Wide-Field Instrument (WFI) is a 300.8-megapixel multi-band visible and near-infrared camera, providing a sharpness of images comparable to that achieved by the Hubble Space Telescope over a 0.28 square degree field of view, 100 times larger than imaging cameras on the Hubble. The Coronagraphic Instrument (CGI) is a high-contrast, small field of view camera and spectrometer covering visible and near-infrared wavelengths using novel starlight-suppression technology. Roman objectives include a search for extra-solar planets using gravitational microlensing, and probing the expansion history of the Universe and the growth of cosmic structure, with the goal of measuring the effects of dark energy, the consistency of general relativity, and the curvature of spacetime.

Falcon Heavy on the pad

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Rocket
Falcon Heavy
Provider
SpaceX
Launch site
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Status
Launch Successful

Liftoff time

What you saw

If you spotted a bright streak or contrail in the sky from Titusville, FL · Port Canaveral, FL · Mims, FL or nearby, this launch is very likely what it was.

Visibility map: how far away could you see it?

Each ring shows how far away Falcon Heavy was line-of-sight visible that many seconds into flight: about 89 miles by T+30s, 192 miles by T+60s, and roughly 305 miles by T+90s. City dots are colored by the expected view quality; the table below has the direction to look from each.

N ↑ T+90s T+75s T+60s T+45s T+30s T+15s Orlando, FL — 47 mi from the pad · excellent view expected Orlando Tampa, FL — 122 mi from the pad · good view expected Tampa Jacksonville, FL — 135 mi from the pad · good view expected Jacksonville Miami, FL — 198 mi from the pad · good view expected Miami Melbourne, FL — 36 mi from the pad · excellent view expected Melbourne Daytona Beach, FL — 49 mi from the pad · excellent view expected Daytona Beach Vero Beach, FL — 68 mi from the pad · excellent view expected Vero Beach Fort Pierce, FL — 82 mi from the pad · excellent view expected Fort Pierce Port St. Lucie, FL — 94 mi from the pad · good view expected Port St. Lucie West Palm Beach, FL — 135 mi from the pad · good view expected West Palm Beach Fort Lauderdale, FL — 174 mi from the pad · good view expected Fort Lauderdale St. Augustine, FL — 99 mi from the pad · good view expected St. Augustine Launch Complex 39A
Falcon Heavy | Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope visibility range: each ring marks how far away the rocket was above the horizon that many seconds after liftoff, out to about 305 miles at T+90s. Rings are line-of-sight geometry from a representative ascent profile, centered on the pad — the rocket also travels downrange, stretching views along its track, and night launches are often visible well beyond the outer ring. Assumes clear skies and an open horizon.

Which cities could see this launch?

Estimated visibility from major towns near US launch sites, assuming clear skies and an open horizon at the time of liftoff. The 10 most likely first:

CityVisibilityLook towardDistance to pad
Titusville, FL Excellent east 12 mi
Port Canaveral, FL Excellent north 14 mi
Mims, FL Excellent east-southeast 15 mi
Merritt Island, FL Excellent north-northeast 18 mi
Cocoa Beach, FL Excellent north 20 mi
Rockledge, FL Excellent north-northeast 20 mi
Satellite Beach, FL Excellent north 30 mi
New Smyrna Beach, FL Excellent southeast 35 mi
Indialantic, FL Excellent north 36 mi
Melbourne, FL Excellent north 36 mi
Show all 94 cities
CityVisibilityLook towardDistance to pad
Palm Bay, FL Excellent north 40 mi
Sanford, FL Excellent east-southeast 42 mi
Orlando, FL Excellent east 47 mi
Daytona Beach, FL Excellent south-southeast 49 mi
Kissimmee, FL Excellent east-northeast 54 mi
Sebastian, FL Excellent north 55 mi
Vero Beach, FL Excellent north 68 mi
Palm Coast, FL Excellent south-southeast 76 mi
Fort Pierce, FL Excellent north-northwest 82 mi
Lakeland, FL Good east-northeast 91 mi
Port St. Lucie, FL Good north 94 mi
St. Augustine, FL Good south-southeast 99 mi
Tampa, FL Good east-northeast 122 mi
Gainesville, FL Good southeast 126 mi
Jacksonville, FL Good south-southeast 135 mi
West Palm Beach, FL Good north-northwest 135 mi
Fort Lauderdale, FL Good north 174 mi
Brunswick, GA Good south-southeast 183 mi
Miami, FL Good north 198 mi
Valdosta, GA Fair southeast 222 mi
Savannah, GA Good south 242 mi
Hilton Head Island, SC Good south 250 mi
Tallahassee, FL Fair east-southeast 255 mi
Charleston, SC Good south 291 mi
Myrtle Beach, SC Good south-southwest 365 mi
Pensacola Beach, FL Fair east-southeast 411 mi
Gulf Shores, AL Fair east 442 mi
Norfolk, VA Fair south-southwest 622 mi
Virginia Beach, VA Fair south-southwest 629 mi
Newport News, VA Fair south-southwest 633 mi
Richmond, VA Fair south-southwest 644 mi
Cape Charles, VA Fair south-southwest 655 mi
Exmore, VA Fair south-southwest 676 mi
Onancock, VA Fair south-southwest 688 mi
Wallops Island, VA Fair south-southwest 706 mi
Chincoteague, VA Fair south-southwest 711 mi
Pocomoke City, MD Fair south-southwest 715 mi
Salisbury, MD Fair south-southwest 733 mi
Berlin, MD Fair south-southwest 739 mi
Washington, DC Marginal south-southwest 740 mi
Ocean City, MD Fair south-southwest 744 mi
Annapolis, MD Marginal south-southwest 754 mi
Rehoboth Beach, DE Fair south-southwest 767 mi
Baltimore, MD Marginal south-southwest 773 mi
Cape May, NJ Fair south-southwest 785 mi
Dover, DE Fair south-southwest 785 mi
Ocean City, NJ Fair south-southwest 814 mi
Philadelphia, PA Marginal south-southwest 842 mi
Grand Isle, LA Not visible — 570 mi
Rockport, TX Not visible — 1000 mi
Port Aransas, TX Not visible — 1003 mi
Corpus Christi, TX Not visible — 1023 mi
South Padre Island, TX Not visible — 1030 mi
Port Isabel, TX Not visible — 1033 mi
Laguna Vista, TX Not visible — 1038 mi
Bayview, TX Not visible — 1044 mi
Los Fresnos, TX Not visible — 1050 mi
Brownsville, TX Not visible — 1054 mi
Harlingen, TX Not visible — 1061 mi
McAllen, TX Not visible — 1093 mi
Laredo, TX Not visible — 1154 mi
San Diego, CA Not visible — 2180 mi
Pasadena, CA Not visible — 2234 mi
Mojave, CA Not visible — 2236 mi
Long Beach, CA Not visible — 2238 mi
Los Angeles, CA Not visible — 2240 mi
Malibu, CA Not visible — 2266 mi
Thousand Oaks, CA Not visible — 2274 mi
Bakersfield, CA Not visible — 2284 mi
Oxnard, CA Not visible — 2294 mi
Ventura, CA Not visible — 2300 mi
Santa Barbara, CA Not visible — 2323 mi
Fresno, CA Not visible — 2329 mi
Solvang, CA Not visible — 2348 mi
Buellton, CA Not visible — 2351 mi
Los Alamos, CA Not visible — 2355 mi
Santa Maria, CA Not visible — 2364 mi
Orcutt, CA Not visible — 2365 mi
Lompoc, CA Not visible — 2366 mi
Vandenberg Village, CA Not visible — 2367 mi
Guadalupe, CA Not visible — 2372 mi
Pismo Beach, CA Not visible — 2376 mi
San Luis Obispo, CA Not visible — 2377 mi
San Jose, CA Not visible — 2447 mi

Where to look

A rocket lifts off below the horizon for distant viewers, then climbs into view as it gains altitude and flies downrange. Closer to the pad you'll see it within seconds; a few hundred miles away it can take three to six minutes to rise over the horizon. Find an open view in the direction shown for your city and start watching at liftoff.

10° 34° T+10s T+5m 10s E
From Titusville, FL: rose T+10s in the E, peaked 34°.
10° 33° T+10s T+5m 10s
From Port Canaveral, FL: rose T+10s in the N, peaked 33°.
10° 34° T+10s T+5m 10s E
From Mims, FL: rose T+10s in the ESE, peaked 34°.

Watch the live webcast Official launch details More from SpaceX ↗

What was that in the sky? FAQ

What was the smoke trail in the sky over Florida on August 30, 2026?

Most likely Falcon Heavy | Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope: a Falcon Heavy launched by SpaceX from Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA at 7:26 AM EDT. From Titusville, FL it appeared low in the east sky and climbed toward the northeast as it headed downrange.

Which cities could see the Falcon Heavy | Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launch?

With clear skies, it was likely visible from Titusville, FL; Port Canaveral, FL; Mims, FL; Merritt Island, FL; Cocoa Beach, FL; Rockledge, FL, and from other towns within a few hundred miles of Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA. The city-by-city table on this page shows the estimated view from each.

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Launch data from TheSpaceDevs Launch Library 2. Page generated October 14, 2026.