Mouse Was Not Spotted on Falcon 9 Engine

Misbar took a close look at the uploaded video, which does show something small moving randomly around the rocket thrusters approximately four minutes after takeoff. Many across social media platforms re-posted the video of that portion of the rocket take-off saying that a mouse had somehow hitched a ride into space. News sites picked up the story quickly.

While there is apparently something moving around the engine, our investigation shows that a mouse would not be able to survive that far into the flight outside of the rocket. At the time into launch that the movement is shown, the Falcon 9 rocket is going over 1500 mph according to NASA. The astronauts at that point are feeling over 2gs of pull. This is equivalent to over two times the force of gravity humans are normally exposed to when on earth. The astronauts are able to survive this force because they are on the inside of the rocket, strapped in, and wearing a protective g-suit, designed to prevent them from losing consciousness. According to Mechanical Engineer Brook Davenport of Charlotte, North Carolina, “What was seen on the video was most likely condensation forming from a super cold liquid near a very hot engine. The surface tension of the liquid probably helped it form into a ball shape and then look like a mouse.” 

It would also not have been the first mouse into space. The first mouse launched into space happened on August 15, 1950, according to Space.com. 

However, there were 40 mice inside of the Falcon rocket heading to space. Some of these mice have been genetically modified and others were given a test drug to learn more about the effects of muscle and bone degradation, according to Florida Today.