United Launch Alliance successfully sent an Atlas V rocket into orbit Wednesday morning - and did a pretty good job stirring up Bay area residents as well.
The launch created a cloud plume about a minute after liftoff, but ULA said nothing went wrong with the launch. The rocket is now in space.
The rocket carrying a 15,000-pound U.S. Navy satellite blasted off at 6:18 a.m. from Cape Canaveral. The rocket is carrying the fourth Mobile User Objective System, or MUOS, to an orbit about 22,000 miles above Earth.
The satellite is part of a cluster that will provide video, voice and data for troops across the globe.
The launch caused quite a buzz on the ground as well, especially in the Bay area, where many people wanted to know what exactly they saw early this morning in the eastern sky.
ULA gave this explanation: The illuminated plume of smoke witnessed in the sky came from the rocket's five launch boosters. As the rocket got higher, the circular smoke trail caught the pre-dawn morning light just right. Officials also said the extra amount of smoke can be attributed to the rocket being ULA's most powerful.
Dozens of calls poured into the Bay News 9 newsroom asking if something exploded in the sky.
Rest assured, nothing went wrong with the launch, despite the cloud plume.
"When the Atlas went over the horizon, the plume was spreading out and the sunlight happen to come through it at the proper time that really illuminate the whole plume," said John Hilliard, a 45th Space Wing Public Affairs Volunteer. "We normally have that plume, but you don’t see it because we don’t have the illumination that we did today."