Mysterious Object Spotted In NJ Skies Tuesday Night: Here's What It Was

You weren't the only one seeing lights overhead and wondering what was taking over the New Jersey skies on Tuesday night.

The U.S. Space Force launched its Vulcan USSF-106 rocket with the help of United Launch Alliance in Cape Canaveral, Florida, leading to a buzz along the East Coast as to what was flying overhead. The project marks the first "national security"-related launch of items by the Vulcan into orbit, officials said.

So no, it wasn't aliens, but you were at least looking at a partially classified operation. The contents of the rocket were not disclosed, however, beyond that an experimental military navigational satellite and other items were on board and successfully carried into orbit around Earth.

The rocket was launched at 8:56 p.m. and brought with it a flurry of reactions on social media from the East and Midwest areas of the country. The sighting was made even more extravagant for certain onlookers by the timing of it, which coincided with some of the Perseid meteor showers:

I know there is a meteor shower tonight, but this didn’t really look like one? No plane was on the flight radar either? I also didn’t see anything about any satellite or rocket launch going over my area?Anybody know what this could be? #UFO #GOV #God #Drone #Virginia pic.twitter.com/9pQSaQZACI
— freedomspartan (@Dodson22S) August 13, 2025

“Vulcan is a catalyst to supporting national defense in the strategic warfighting domain of space,” Tory Bruno, United Launch Alliance's president and CEO, said in a statement. “Vulcan is the world’s most capable, high-energy orbit rocket meeting the demand for expanding space competencies. Vulcan provides flexibility to our nation’s decision makers as we combat our adversaries' attempts to disrupt the U.S. in space operations.

He continued, adding that "This launch begins a new era in national space security.”

The rocket traveled seven hours and covered some 22,000 miles over the course of its mission, officials said.