SpaceX launch latest: Witnesses describe 'alien skies' as rocket booster plummets back to Earth

Nick Charity8 October 2018

Witnesses described "alien skies" as bright lights emerged over California during the latest SpaceX Falcon 9 launch.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried an Argentinian Earth-observation satellite into space before landing a first-stage booster back on hard ground first the first time in California.

First-stage boosters, reusable rocket boosters which separate from the second stage of a multistage rocket, have previously been landed on hard ground after Florida launches but this was the first time on the West Coast.

Mysterious pictures emerged of the bright lights over California after the launch from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to deliver the SAOCOM 1A satellite into low Earth orbit.

The Air Force last week advised residents on the central California coast they might see multiple engine burns by the first stage and hear one or more sonic booms as it returned.

'Alien skies' as SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches in California

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The launch marked the company's 30th successful landing of a rocket booster and demonstrates how far space travel has come since shuttle launch modules were once typically abandoned in mid-flight and left as scrap.

Falcon 9 took off at 7.22pm local time, and 10 hours later SpaceX tweeted to confirm "Falcon has landed".

The mission edges Elon Musk ever closer to his dream of launching and re-launching a rocket within 24-hours.

Californians who witnesses the spectacle used the hashtag #aliens after posting images of the mysteriously lit skies on social media.

Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcettic said the lights were "definitely not aliens".

"What you’re looking at is the first launch and landing of the @SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the West Coast," he said.

SpaceX also has successfully landed Falcon 9 first stages on so-called drone ships off the coasts of Florida and California, all as part of its effort to decrease the cost of space launches by reusing rockets rather than allowing them to fall into the ocean.

The Argentinian satellite is the first of two for Argentina's space agency, Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales, and will work in conjunction with a constellation of Italian space agency satellites.

Its name is short for Satelite Argentino de Observacion Con Microondas. SAOCOM 1A carries a high-resolution instrument called a synthetic aperture radar that will be used for emergency management during disasters and for land monitoring. The second satellite will be SAOCOM 1B.

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