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.

Liftoff! Here’s the (very long) list of all 2026 rocket launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida

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.

April rocket launch schedule: Is there a launch today? NASA, SpaceX, Blue Origin liftoff schedule in Florida

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.

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?

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.

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.”

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.

Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky, 44, was indicted on a second-degree manslaughter charge by a grand jury in Walton County, Florida, on Monday, April 13, according to the county sheriff’s office and the Office of the State Attorney for the First Judicial Circuit. He was arrested on the morning of April 13 and later released on a $75,000 bond, online inmate records show.

In a news release, the Walton County Sheriff’s Office said the grand jury indictment connected Shaknovsky to the “operating room death of an Alabama man.” William Bryan, of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and his wife, Beverly, were visiting their rental property in Okaloosa County when William Bryan suddenly began experiencing left-sided flank pain, according to the family’s attorney.

They went to Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital in Walton County, and he was admitted for further studies pursuant to concern for an abnormality of the spleen. The sheriff’s office said Shaknovsky had removed William Bryan’s liver instead of his spleen during what was scheduled to be a laparoscopic splenectomy, “resulting in catastrophic blood loss and the patient’s death on the operating table.”

The grand jury indictment follows an extensive investigation conducted by the sheriff’s office, the Office of the State Attorney for the First Judicial Circuit, and other state and medical authorities, according to the news release. The sheriff’s office said the jury found probable cause to “charge that the actions taken in the operating room constituted criminal conduct” under state law.

“Our duty is to follow the facts wherever they lead, without fear or favor,” Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson said in a statement. “The Grand Jury has spoken, and our responsibility is to ensure the charges are carried out through the proper legal process. Our thoughts remain with the victim’s family and their unspeakable loss.”

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Medical examiner found spleen still in William Bryan’s body during autopsy

A Pensacola law firm, Zarzaur Law P.A., is pursuing a civil lawsuit on behalf of William Bryan’s family, citing wrongful death, medical malpractice, and personal injury.

William Bryan began suffering “severe abdominal pain” while on vacation with his wife in August 2024, according to Joe Zarzaur, the Bryan family’s attorney. Shaknovsky, who was a surgeon at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital at the time, had diagnosed William Bryan with hemoperitoneum and splenic injury, or bleeding of the spleen, an operative report states.

William Bryan initially elected to hold off on surgery until they got back to their home in Alabama, but Beverly Bryan said Shaknovsky told her husband would bleed to death if he traveled in his condition, according to Zarzaur. Shaknovsky performed the procedure after discussing the “risks, benefits and alternatives” with the couple, the operative report states.

During the procedure on Aug. 21, 2024, William Bryan died from massive blood loss after the removal of the “large” spleen, according to the operative report. After the procedure, a pathologist realized the removed organ labeled “spleen” was actually liver tissue, Zarzaur said.

Once an autopsy was done, the medical examiner determined William Bryan’s liver had been removed, and his spleen was still in his body with a cyst attached to it, according to Zarzaur.

“The spleen had a small cyst on it that had some hemorrhage around it, but it was not a fatal issue,” Zarzaur said. “It was a fairly routine-looking cyst. It probably would have been very treatable.”

He had surgery to remove his appendix. Doctors mistakenly took out much more, lawsuit says.

Thomas Shaknovsky involved in 2023 surgical mishap

In September 2024, the Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo ordered an emergency suspension of Shaknovsky’s license. Ladapo had cited William Bryan’s death and a prior incident in 2023, in which Shaknovsky removed a portion of a different patient’s pancreas instead of the adrenal gland and purportedly claimed the adrenal gland had “migrated” to a different part of the body.

The 2023 case was settled, and no lawsuit was filed against the surgeon or Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital, according to Zarzaur. State records show that Shaknovsky paid $400,000 in 2024 to settle a medical malpractice claim.

“That one got swept under the rug,” Zarzaur said at a news conference in September 2024 while announcing the case. “Here we are in a case after that.”

The Florida Department of Health lists Shaknovsky’s current medical license status as “retired.” The department defines retired status as the licensed practitioner “not practicing in the state of Florida, but maintains a retired license status.”

“The licensed practitioner is not authorized to practice in the state of Florida,” according to the state health department. “The practitioner is not obligated to update his/her profile data.”

Contributing: Jonathan Limehouse, USA TODAY