Tuesday, April 02, 2024

Photos of the Day: A Falcon 9 Lights Up the SoCal Sky Once More...

The exhaust plume created by SpaceX's Falcon 9 second stage booster is visible above a neighbor's house in Pomona, CA...on April 1, 2024.
Richard T. Par

Two weeks after a previous Falcon 9 rocket launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California, another SpaceX booster lifted off from the West Coast launch site as well (at 7:30 PM, PDT)...sending another 22 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit.

Unlike the March 18 launch, I knew about yesterday's flight a few days in advance. Last time, I wasn't sure if I was in the mood to get dressed with few minutes to spare and drive somewhere that provided a great view of Falcon 9 shooting up into the Southern California sky.

In terms of last night, on the other hand, I got dressed (after eating dinner around 6:30 PM, PDT) and walked down my street to where the neighborhood mailbox was located. This spot provided an awesome, unimpeded view of the patch of sky that Falcon 9 was gonna fly through as it made its way to space.

Much like what I did two weeks ago, I used my Google Pixel 4A smartphone to take photos of SpaceX's airborne twilight spectacle.

I look forward to the next evening launch of Falcon 9 from Vandenberg...which is almost 200 miles from where I live! But it would be just as cool if another company's rocket—I'm looking at you, United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Vulcan Centaur—graced the SoCal sky at dusk as well.

I'm sure that ULA will make this a reality...eventually. Happy Belated April Fools' Day!

The bright contrail created by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is visible above my neighborhood in Pomona, CA...on April 1, 2024.
Richard T. Par

The bright contrail created by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket as it sends 22 new Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit...on April 1, 2024.
Richard T. Par

The exhaust plume created by SpaceX's Falcon 9 second stage booster is visible above a neighbor's house in Pomona, CA...on April 1, 2024.
Richard T. Par

The exhaust plume created by SpaceX's Falcon 9 second stage booster is visible above my neighborhood in Pomona, CA...on April 1, 2024.
Richard T. Par

The remnants of the bright contrail created by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket as it sent 22 new Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit...on April 1, 2024.
Richard T. Par

The remnants of the bright contrail created by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket as it sent 22 new Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit...on April 1, 2024.
Richard T. Par

The exhaust plume created by SpaceX's Falcon 9 second stage booster is visible from my neighborhood in Pomona, CA...on April 1, 2024.
Richard T. Par

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