SpaceX rocket powers its way through the fog with a blast and a boom
On a fog-steeped morning at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, a rocket from Hawthorne-based SpaceX powered its way out of the mist and into space early Wednesday.
The Falcon 9 rocket recorded an on-time launch at 7:17 a.m., rising above a bank of fog and low clouds and into the skies.
After separating from the top portion of the rocket carrying the payload, the bottom section descended back to Earth in a controlled burn onto an adjacent pad at the base. These returns from space usually provide compelling video during SpaceX’s launchcasts, but this time the module was barely visible through the thick fog.
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/aIY0gJVoVY
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 12, 2019
The recovery maneuver, designed to reuse and save costs on the valuable rocket engines, has only been performed one other time on land at Vandenberg. In most other launches, recovery is performed at sea on an unmanned drone ship.
Air Force officials warned residents in nearby counties of likely sonic booms, caused when an aircraft travels faster than the speed of sound, on the booster core’s re-entry. Some people on social media reported hearing the sound as the module returned to Earth.
Crazy sonic boom this morning when @SpaceX #Falcon9 returned to land at SLC 4. https://t.co/dtisJmlCtc
— DeAnne Carr (@dcarr_99) June 12, 2019
Annnnd…. the sound of it coming back down and landing. Can’t see it but can hear a pop and then a roar. @TheInstituteHSV @SpaceX pic.twitter.com/Tkitt8QjXp
— Amy Eskridge (@amyceskridge) June 12, 2019
I’m glad I was awake for that launch/sonic boom because if I would have been asleep and jolted awake, I probably would have had a conniption because of how loud the sonic boom was #SpaceX
— Kate Marie
(@ktlynmariesmth) June 12, 2019
Others posted their disappointment that that couldn’t hear anything — or see much of the liftoff amid the morning muck.
Was able to see it for a bit on its return in Ventura through a break in the fog. No sonic boom. Total June glum during launch so did not see any of the launch.
— David B Stewart (@mrsurftheweb) June 12, 2019
The rocket used during this mission is another example of SpaceX’s high-tech recycling. It trekked in March to the International Space Station and back, the company said.
The mission Wednesday, which had been delayed several times since its initial launch date in November, successfully deployed three satellites designed to improve observations of the EarthCanadian Space Agency’s RADARSAT constellation.
Last month, the South Bay-based rocketbuilder deployed 60 satellites, the first batch of what could ultimately be thousands of satellites providing space-based internet service around the globe.
The Astronomical Union International, representing astronomers around the world, released a statement last week to complain, fearful that scores of satellites could obscure views of the night sky and interfere with scientific research.
Last November, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk earned permission to deploy more than 7,000 satellites from the Federal Communications Commission.