A 20-story tall, 1.3 million-pound Atlas V rocket will lift off from Florida, and it’s possible people in Tallahassee − and other states− can see it light up the sky.
Teams with United Launch Alliance were prepping for the Atlas V rocket launch, the fifth Amazon Leo constellation mission. Liftoff is planned for 1:45 a.m. ET Saturday, April 4, 2026, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. An earlier attempt was planned for 3:53 a.m. ET Sunday, March 29, 2026.
Though rockets in Florida lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center or nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, it’s possible for spacecraft to be seen far beyond the launch pad, including in other states: In December 2023, the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket was spotted from Boca Raton to Cedar Key to Myrtle Beach. And in February 2025, people in Fayetteville, North Carolina, posted photos and video of a Falcon 9 rocket after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida. More recently, in February 2026, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was seen about 150 miles away from Cape Canaveral in West Palm Beach, Florida. In March 2026, people in New Jersey reported seeing a SpaceX rocket in the sky…