Richard T. Par
A few hours ago, SpaceX launched another Falcon 9 rocket carrying 20 new Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California. This is the first time since early April, and fifth time overall since 2018, that I watched a Falcon 9 launch dazzle the evening sky from here in Los Angeles County!
Liftoff occurred at 8:40 PM, PDT...which was the ideal time for SpaceX to conduct a launch since the sky was dark enough for the Falcon 9's contrail to glow brilliantly above the landscape. Not only did the contrail shine above Southern California, but so did the Falcon 9's twin payload fairings and first stage booster (shown above) as they were absolutely visible during their return to Earth to be recovered by SpaceX vessels (including the drone ship, Of Course I Still Love You, in the case of the first stage booster) waiting off the SoCal coastline in the Pacific Ocean.
I'll never get tired of seeing these spectacular light shows put on by SpaceX! I've read online that United Launch Alliance will launch its brand-new Vulcan Centaur rocket from Vandenberg sometime next year... What are the chances that Vulcan lifts off at dusk and follows the same flight trajectory as Falcon 9 so that rocket geeks like me can photograph it (using my Google Pixel 4A phone and Nikon D3300 DSLR camera, like I did tonight) in all its liquid methane and liquid oxygen-fueled glory?
We'll see!
Richard T. Par
Richard T. Par
Richard T. Par
Richard T. Par
Richard T. Par
Richard T. Par
Richard T. Par
Falcon 9 delivers 20 @Starlink satellites to orbit from California pic.twitter.com/cIxiifeAGj
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 19, 2024
Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on Of Course I Still Love You droneship pic.twitter.com/oftsMhP728
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 19, 2024
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