PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Tuesday morning The SpaceX launch took place hundreds of miles away in Cape Canaveral, Florida. but it was visible throughout the country, including the Philadelphia area.

Spectators and social media users who were up early reported seeing a white streak of light streak across the sky. While many speculated (and Googled) that it was perhaps a comet or meteor entering the atmosphere, it was actually the launch that sent four civilians into space.

John Gajewski sent a video showing the rocket over Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.

Our photographer Bill Seiders also captured the phenomenon over Philadelphia.

And Gary Kaplan sent us a video from Turnersville, New Jersey:

The Polaris Dawn mission launched a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket into space at 5:23 a.m. on Tuesday.

Among the four civilians on board the rocket is Jared Isaacman, founder of a Lehigh Valley technology company headquartered in Center Valley, Lehigh County.

Isaacman and his crewmates Sarah Gillis, Scott Poteet and Anna Menon want to set a record for the highest flight altitude since the Apollo missions and will be the first to participate in the first spacewalk by a commercial space companyreports CBS News.