While SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has pledged to withdraw the company’s Dragon capsule from further use by NASA, the company continues to use its fleet of Falcon 9 rockets to launch communications satellites into orbit.
Will man (or woman, for that matter) ever return to the surface of the Moon via a NASA spacecraft? That remains to be seen in view of recent developments, In the meantime, space enthusiasts in Southern California can apparently continue to look forward to more launches from the Vandenburg Space Force complex.
Monday evening’s launch in the latest Starlink series (15-9) was spectacular. The rocket carrying 26 satellites to low earth orbit blasted off at 8:36 p.m. Pacific Time, about a half-hour after sunset, to create the perfect atmospheric observing conditions. As the rocket rose in the deepening blue sky, the vapor trail quickly lit up from a geometric alignment with the sun now below the horizon.
The vapor trail was razor thin to start as the rocket began its ascent, then began to take on a characteristic zig-zag pattern as winds higher in the atmosphere began to tear it asunder. As the rocket climbed ever higher and began to cross air space overhead, the vapor plume began to ever widen and the booster rockets could easily be seen separating from the ascending capsule.
At midpoint, the spectacle resembled a cobra in the sky with a ghostly trident-shaped head.
As the rocket continued downrange and disappeared from sight, the red retro burn from the first stage could be seen low to the southwest for recovery and reuse.
Eastlake resident Paul Martinez shot a video of the unfolding event, located at www.youtube.com/watch?v=zag9eEA6RAo
Photo Gallery by Phillip Brents
D300 Nikon camera, 35-70mm lens
