‘And liftoff!’ SpaceX rocket blasts off from Vandenberg Space Force Base
A SpaceX rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, shooting a fiery path across Central Coast skies Friday morning.
“And liftoff!” said a launch director during the live broadcast of the event.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket carried 50 satellites into orbit just after 9:12 a.m.
The satellites were for SpaceX’s internet system, Starlink. According to the SpaceX website, Starlink “provides high-speed, low-latency broadband internet across the globe.”
Soon after launch, the rocket’s first stage booster returned to land on the company’s droneship, the Of Course I Still Love You, which was stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
This was the second launch from the Lompoc-area base this year; a SpaceX rocket carrying a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office launched Feb. 2.
Besides being visable from across the Central Coast, the rocket launch could be seen in high resolution satellite imagery captured by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, the National Weather Service tweeted Friday.
The radar images show a red dot shooting across the central portion of the state.
This story was originally published February 25, 2022 at 8:54 AM.
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