A mysterious cloud of light moved across L.A.'s skies last night, inspiring wonder in those watching from Earth below. It was one of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets, speeding upward to deploy a satellite.
It launched at 7:21 p.m. Sunday night from Vandenberg Air Force Base, up the coast north of Santa Barbara. Mayor Garcetti was quick to rain on L.A.'s fun/calm everyone down, tweeting last night "Nope, definitely not aliens." Suuuure, Mr. Garcetti, likely story. (No, really, it wasn't. We're pretty sure!)
It was also the first time SpaceX has landed a rocket on the West Coast, with the first stage returning to land at Vandenberg, according to SpaceX.
Hey Pasadena, did you see the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch at 7:21 pm? Here’s a view we just captured from our city as the sky lit up. pic.twitter.com/EmBc9qAYmJ
— City of Pasadena (@PasadenaGov) October 8, 2018
A lot of us Angelenos have a short memory, or just didn't make the connection -- a lot of us were freaked out by eerie sights in the skies last December with another evening SpaceX launch.
THE NEXT ONE
So wait -- when is this happening again? When will we next get to think just maybe the aliens are finally here, first contact is being had, oh wait it's just an extremely impressive aeronautical achievement?
The next Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg is scheduled for Nov. 19, according to Spaceflight Now. Now, morning launches usually don't create the same kind of visual in the sky, so we'll have to wait for the exact time to be scheduled and hope for an evening launch to get that same feeling.
We've also got a launch scheduled for Dec. 3 of the Delta 4-Heavy rocket. Both of these flights were originally scheduled for earlier this year -- the first was delayed from July, the other from September. But cross your fingers and you may get another glimpse at man reaching up and touching the great dark expanse above.
You can watch video of last night's launch here:
Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the company that operates the Delta 4-Heavy rocket. LAist regrets the error.
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