A mysterious object which appeared underneath the Falcon 9 rocket during its launch on Thursday sent the Internet into a UFO frenzy. SpaceX kicked off the new year by launching its first Falcon 9 rocket, which then rocketed a new handful of Starlink satellites into orbit before returning to Earth. During footage of the live-streamed rocket launch, a mysterious ring-shaped UFO can be seen moving below the rocket.
DanielJW3 tweeted a video of the UFO sighting, adding: “Was watching the @SpaceX Falcon 9 launch today when I saw something interesting. What was that? @elonmusk #SpaceX #UFO #SpaceDebris.”
YouTuber The Hidden Underbelly 2.0 also posted a video of the sighting, writing: “This ring-shaped UFO showed up during the Falcon 9 launch at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
“While the rocket was over our Earth this object appeared and then they change cameras.”
One person even opened up a question on the Starlink forum on Reddit, asking: “Can somebody explain what this is?”
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YouTuber The Hidden Underbelly 2.0 said: “In this footage, we can see this doughnut-shaped object that appears here.
“And when we get a good look at it, guess what happens? The camera cuts to another scene.
“I don’t believe this is a kind of lens flare, there are usually different colours for a lens flare. I’m really stumped on this one, to be honest.”
One person responded: “Really awesome capture, you are right this is no camera artefact. It is something physical, but so interesting how it develops.
Another user agreed, posting: “Frost ring. Builds up when the craft is still on earth, detaches due to vibration in flight. They happen a lot.”
One tongue-in-cheek viewer said it was “aliens, it’s always aliens” while another joked it was SpaceX competitor and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
The recycled Falcon 9, which has been flown previously, blasted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The blast-off marks the beginning of another significant year for the company following a record-breaking year in 2021 when SpaceX set a new record for most launches in a single year with 31 liftoffs.
SpaceX also launched 12 astronauts on three Crew Dragon missions, which included four private citizens who participated as part of the Inspiration4 mission.
As of Thursday, there are 1,824 Starlink satellites in orbit that are now working, including this latest batch.
