Space oddity as Musk’s rocket lights up sky in New Zealand
HE has mused on the existence of extra-terrestrial life forms – and joked that he might himself be an alien.
Now Elon Musk appears to have taken the joke to a far higher level – after one of his SpaceX rockets created an otherworldly light-show in the sky.
The mysterious blue spiral – which looked suspiciously like a UFO – baffled onlookers in new Zealand. The spiralling plume of gas lit up the sky over nelson, a city at the top of new Zealand’s South Island, and travelled 450 miles south to Stewart Island on Sunday night.
Augustine Matthews, who ran outside to watch with her husband, said: ‘It looked like a planet or star... Within ten minutes it had traversed half the sky and the spiral had grown three times in size. It wasn’t blinking or twinkling, and it was moving fairly fast.’
Mr Musk’s SpaceX firm sent a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a satellite into orbit from Florida earlier on Sunday – the third such flight in 36 hours. as the rocket released its payload, it spun and vented fuel, which caused a vapour trail that reflected sunlight, experts said. The illuminated plume of the rocket then created the visible blue swirl.