Lights in the sky! SpaceX rocket surprises in Havana

A stunning white light streaked across the sky of Cuba on Monday night, leaving people astonished and discussing it on social media. From neighborhoods in Havana to provinces in the western part of the country, many Cubans recorded the phenomenon and shared it online.

The meteorologist Frank Fernández Castañeda explained that this was the eleventh test flight of the Starship, the megacraft from the American company SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, launched from the Boca Chica launch site in Texas. As he detailed, the spacecraft—the largest and most powerful ever built by humankind—was visible from much of the national territory, although in some areas, cloud cover hindered visibility.

The citizen profile NiO reporting a crime described the event as "a magical night" that brought many Cubans together under the same sky. From streets and rooftops, dozens of people came out to witness the silvery glow that seemed straight out of a science fiction scene.

Activist Yamilka Lafita (Lara Crofs) shared a video asking if anyone knew what the light was. Some responded that it could be a SpaceX launch.

Others, like the actor and writer Jorge Bacallao Guerra, reacted with humor. “I saw a strange light in the sky and made a wish for a simple little car, a VW Beetle or a decent Ladita with good bodywork, just to be modest. I told a friend about it, and he said, 'Well, you screwed up, don’t count on that wish because it wasn’t a shooting star, it was one of Elon Musk's rockets.' Oh wow, if I had known that, I would have wished for a Tesla.”

According to reports from international media such as El País, the flight of Starship lasted just over an hour and was part of a technical test to validate the mass delivery of satellites into space. The Super Heavy booster, equipped with 24 reusable Raptor engines, propelled the spacecraft to over 26,000 kilometers per hour before successfully landing in the Gulf of Mexico.

The launch was not commercially focused, but it was crucial for testing the reliability of the component reuse system and the engine relight capability in microgravity. SpaceX aims to reduce the costs of future missions to the Moon and Mars, and to increase the transportation capacity of Starlink satellites—up to 60 per flight—thus multiplying the current performance of the Falcon 9 by twenty.

In recent years, Cuba has witnessed these luminous phenomena on several occasions, visible due to its proximity to launch sites in Florida and Texas. In February 2025, an unusual light in the sky over the eastern part of the country once again astonished residents, while in May 2024 and February 2023, other SpaceX launches were also visible from different points on the island, generating surprise and curiosity among the population.

This time, the glow of the Starship once again crossed the Havana sky, reminding us that space exploration is not solely for engineers and astronauts, but also for those who, from their rooftops in Cuba, look up and dream a little higher.

Frequently Asked Questions about the SpaceX Rocket Sightings in Cuba