Starlink Launch at Sunrise

3/14/2021

SpaceX launched the 21st Starlink mission at 6 AM EST on March 14th, 2021. This was about an hour before sunrise, so I knew there was a chance of seeing the second stage in sunlight while my location in Maryland was still dark. The results were spectacular.

Starlink launch in daylight

The Falcon 9 second stage and its exhaust plume became huge and bright in the predawn sky.

Here's a 47 second video showing it enter the sun lit region.

This video shows the entire 5 minute visibility of the second stage, from start to second stage cutoff and beyond. It will first appear faintly on the lower right. Full video

The audio on these videos is launch commentary from nasaspaceflight.com.