Photo of the Day
Each day, we highlight one extraordinary photograph from National Geographic. Check out more of our photos here.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from a launch pad, creating a red and blue streak in the dark blue night sky above a dark body of water.
October 14, 2026 | Soar
Against the darkness of an early Florida morning, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket tears through the sky, creating a portrait of humanity’s reach beyond Earth. At 6:33 a.m. ET on October 13, the rocket rose from the Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Photographer Michael Seeley captured the entire spectacle in a single 426-second exposure across the Banana River, which saw the Falcon 9’s exhaust plume catching the rays of the rising sun while the landscape below remained in darkness.
