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Can Cape Canaveral rocket launch be seen in Fort Myers, Naples? Yes. See list

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Can Cape Canaveral rocket launch be seen in Fort Myers, Naples? Yes. See list



Can a rocket launch from NASA or Cape Canaveral be seen in Fort Myers, 245 miles away? Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and ULA Atlas V have liftoffs in April 2026.

Can a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral be seen in Lee County skies?

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If conditions are just right, yes.

Most recently, when NASA’s massive Space Launch Systems rocket launched from Kennedy Space Center for the agency’s historic moon-orbiting mission, liftoff was visible across Florida, including Fort Myers.

Though Southwest Florida is known more for its pristine shelling over SpaceX rocket launches, people far beyond the launch pad can sometimes see this phenomenon.

In the next week or so, there may be two opportunities to spot a rocket launch in the Lee County and Collier County area.

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Keep reading for more information.

NASA Artemis II rocket launch seen in Fort Myers, Florida

The world tuned in for the NASA Artemis II rocket launch from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral on April 1, 2026, sending astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen on a 10-day journey around the moon. The launch could be seen as far west as Fort Myers and south from Jupiter, Florida.

The Artemis II crew made history with their lunar flyby on April 6, 2026, and set a record the same day for the farthest any human has been from Earth. After the Artemis II astronauts left the moon in the rearview mirror, the crew splashed down April 10, 2026, off the coast of San Diego, California.

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When is the next big rocket launch visible in Cape Coral, Fort Myers and Naples, Florida?

Blue Origin’s giant New Glenn rocket is standing tall on the Cape Canaveral launch pad once again in preparation for the new rocket’s third flight. New Glenn will launch AST SpaceMobile’s next-generation Block 2 BlueBird satellite to low-Earth orbit.

While it has been teased that a launch is upcoming, Blue Origin has yet to release an official launch date. According to a Federal Aviation Administration advisory and the Space Coast Office of Tourism, liftoff is set for now no earlier than 6:45 a.m. Friday, April 17, from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Live FLORIDA TODAY Space Team coverage starts two hours before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space.

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Jeff Bezos’ space tech company, Blue Origin, has New Glenn, one large rocket

Visible from Brevard County beaches, New Glenn may not look big on the launch pad but it is actually one of the largest rockets in history. At 321 feet tall,New Glenn is just a foot shorterthan NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) moon rocket, which recently launched the Artemis II mission.

Going back in history, the only other rocket that would tower over New Glenn would have been the 363-foot-tall Saturn V rocket which sent Apollo astronauts to the moon.

However, the largest rocket of all time is SpaceX’s 403-foot-tall Starship, which may launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Pad 39A in the coming year, pending the completion of the upcoming test flight out of Texas.

For context, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 stands only 230-feet-tall.

What other Cape Canaveral rocket launch may be visible in Southwest Florida?

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A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with five solid rocket boosters will launch another batch of 29 Amazon Leo broadband satellites on Monday, April 27, with the launch window and launch trajectory to be announced, according to FLORIDA TODAY, a USA TODAY Network newspaper.

Liftoff will be from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Live FLORIDA TODAY Space Team coverage of that mission will start 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space.

Photos of Florida rocket launch, SpaceX Falcon 9 and Starship seen in Lee County, Collier County sky

Weather permitting and depending on cloud cover and trajectory, a rocket launch from Florida’s Space Coast could be visible as far north as Jacksonville Beach, as far south as West Palm Beach and as far west as Fort Myers.

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When there’s a launch window in the middle of the night or very early morning, there’s an opportunity for unique photos – the rocket lights up the dark sky, and the contrail after makes for a great image.

Andrew West, an award-winning visuals journalist with the News-Press and Naples Daily News, both USA TODAY Network newspapers, captured photos of a United Launch Alliance rocket leaving a streak in the Southwest Florida sky after liftoff from across the state.

Stunning rocket launch photos! NASA SpaceX Crew-12 journeys from Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the space station

From NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to Fort Myers, Florida, it’s about 245 miles. Most rocket launches that have a late-night or early morning liftoff time are better viewing options for Southwest Florida.

Debris from SpaceX Starship rocket launch in Texas visible in Collier County, Florida, sky

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SpaceX Starship debris falls to Earth after rocket ‘disassembly’

SpaceX said it lost contact with its Starship rocket, which Elon Musk’s company said “experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly.”

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SpaceX’s Starship rocket explodes over Caribbean skies

Witnesses spotted debris from a SpaceX Starship after the spacecraft exploded midair following a test flight from south Texas.

In 2025, two Starship rocket launches from the Boca Chica area of Texas, renamed officially to Starbase, were visible in certain parts of Florida.

On March 6, 2025, during a Starship rocket launch test flight from Starbase, flight operators lost contact with the 165-foot upper portion of the vehicle, which exploded less than 10 minutes into the flight, creating debris visible from Florida to the Caribbean. Locally, pieces of the uncrewed Starship rocket were seen streaking across the sky from West Palm Beach to Naples.

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Starbase, headquarters for SpaceX in South Texas, is more than 1,500 miles away from Naples, Florida.

Watch some rocket launches with NASA on Prime Video

Watch NASA+ content with Amazon Prime Video

NASA content, including some rocket launches and information about the Artemis II moon-circling mission, is available to watch through NASA+ on desktop, both from its official site and YouTube. The platform is also available to download as a mobile app on smartphones.

All NASA+ content is also available to those who have Prime Video downloaded on any of their devices – whether it be a smartphone or smart TV.

The content, which does not require a Prime subscription to view, is one of Prime Video’s FAST channels (free ad-supported television). Viewers can find it under Prime’s Live TV section at the top of the screen when they open the app.

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Jennifer Sangalang is a lead digital producer for USA TODAY Network. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram at @byjensangalang. Support local journalism. Subscribe to the free Florida TODAY newsletter.





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Deadly July 4th shooting arrest; South Florida man accused of Miami stabbing attack

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Deadly July 4th shooting arrest; South Florida man accused of Miami stabbing attack


A South Florida man has been charged for a stabbing attack, and in Hollywood, police have charged 21-year-old Devin Blunt with first-degree murder after a deadly July 4th shooting on Funston Street. Both Blunt and the victim, Williams, had traveled from North Carolina with friends. Williams died at the hospital about an hour after the incident.



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South Florida’s top deals: Davie school building sells for $16M

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South Florida’s top deals: Davie school building sells for M


🏆 Residential: The top home sale to hit records was in Pinecrest, where a home at 5865 Southwest 96th Street changed hands for $7.8 million. The sellers were Luis and Liz Messianu, who purchased the 7,800-square-foot property in 2024 for $7.3 million. The buyer was Bunny S Sunshine Haven LLC. The home went on the market in February for $8.2 million. Judith and Nathan Zeder with Coldwell Banker Realty had the listing, and Dennis Carvajal with One Sotheby’s International Realty brought the buyer.

🏆 Commercial: The most expensive recorded commercial deal was in Davie, where a school building sold for $16 million at 3367 North University Drive. The seller was 3367 N University Holdings LLC; the buyer was JSI N University LLC. The building measures about 46,000 square feet. 

📊 Residential: Matthew and Nadia Weaver purchased a newly built home at 299 Northeast Seventh Street in Boca Raton for $6.8 million. The seller was a company managed by Marco Capoccia. Built this year, the home measures 5,800 square feet and has five bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms. The sale breaks down to about $1,200 per square foot. Jacqueline Feldman with One Sotheby’s International Realty represented both sides of the transaction.

If you like this digest, you can get it even earlier — every evening — by subscribing to TRD Data, here.

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Why the Red Sox are sending Roman Anthony to Florida (and to another doctor) – The Boston Globe

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Why the Red Sox are sending Roman Anthony to Florida (and to another doctor) – The Boston Globe


ANAHEIM, Calif. — In sending Roman Anthony to Fort Myers, Fla., to continue his injury rehabilitation, the Red Sox have assigned him one blunt goal: Make it back to Boston.

The geographic reassignment is “a very good opportunity,” interim manager Chad Tracy said, for Anthony to not have to deal with much other than figuring out a way to return from a partially torn ligament in his right ring finger, which continues to impact his hand/wrist — and, thus, his ability to swing a bat.

“His focus, a singular focus now, is if you’re in Florida, it’s to get yourself healthy and not have to deal with all the other stuff that goes with it,” Tracy said before Sunday night’s series finale against the Angels. “So it’s a singular focus, very focused on getting himself healthy and getting back to us.

“We want him. We want him in the lineup. So I’m going to keep in touch with him frequently and see how he’s doing, with the hope that we get him back.”

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And “other stuff” refers to what?

“Just the day-to-day of being at Fenway,” Tracy said. “He’s going to get asked questions about it constantly. And for him being there, his focus is on one thing right now: That’s get yourself healthy.”

When Tracy first mentioned Saturday that the Sox decided Anthony would be based out of their Fenway South spring training/minor league facility indefinitely, he presented it as logistical. The home clubhouse at Fenway had grown crowded because of the number of injured players, he said, so moving Anthony was a way to open space — as the Sox had done with a handful of pitchers previously.

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On Sunday, Tracy added: “It’s also a very good opportunity for him to go and get away from” the “other stuff.”

Anthony has been out since May 4, when he got hurt on a seemingly random swing.

Nine weeks later, he has not resumed a hitting program as he and the Sox navigate the highly unusual baseball injury.

This week, Anthony will visit a new doctor: Gary Lourie in Atlanta. Lourie is a hand specialist, the Braves’ head team physician, and a partner at The Hand & Upper Extremity Center of Georgia.

“Just for peace of mind,” Tracy said. “I expect we’re going to be in a good spot. But really just about getting him in a spot where he can focus each day on just pounding away at getting that hand healthy.”

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Casas set back again

The latest in the plight of Triston Casas: He has suffered from a wrist issue in recent days, Tracy said, so he is shut down from hitting again.

The Red Sox will “check on that” before letting Casas resume anything bat-related, per Tracy.

For Casas, 26, it is another in a string of injuries. He hasn’t played since having knee surgery 14 months ago, and for the past three months he had been trying to return from an abdominal issue.

“He’s gone through a lot,” Tracy said. “Between the knee, he had a little hamstring flareup, obviously the oblique, and then he’s coming back from that, and now there’s a wrist that’s popped up.

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“So, just dealing with different things. Having not played in a while, things have popped up. So we’ll keep an eye on him, and once he’s able to, keep progressing as we can.”

Early update

Connelly Early’s second opinion, also this week, will be with Dr. Keith Meister in Arlington, Texas, the team said. Meister is a leading orthopedic and sports medicine surgeon who specializes in elbow problems.

Following his early exit Tuesday, Early got an MRI and was diagnosed with posterior elbow inflammation but no structural damage, the Red Sox said Wednesday.

Singling out Seigler

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Anthony Seigler batted leadoff for the fourth time in five games. Tracy called him “a logical choice for it” because of his ability to swing at strikes, not swing at balls, and work lengthy at-bats. “He puts the bat on the ball,” Tracy said, “and help hopefully get the game started off right for us” … Masataka Yoshida was the DH, just his second start in a stretch of seven games (amid a run of the Sox facing more lefthanded starters than usual) … The Sox’ next rotation decision is Thursday. They could go with Sonny Gray (on turn), Patrick Sandoval (for his long-awaited team debut), or somebody else against the White Sox.


Tim Healey can be reached at timothy.healey@globe.com. Follow him @timbhealey.





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