The dusk departure for the Falcon 9 rocket at Vandenberg Space Force Base delivered a Monday night display in the sky en route to depositing 22 Starlink satellites in orbit.
Once aiming for a Sunday liftoff, the two-stage rocket built by SpaceX blasted off at 6:09 p.m. Monday from Space Launch Complex-4.
The mission aimed to place 22 Starlink satellites into orbit, with spacecraft separation occurring an hour after liftoff. SpaceX representatives initially said the rocket carried 23 Starlink satellites.
Launches near sunset or sunrise can create what’s called the twilight phenomenon, involving exhaust particles from missile or rocket propellant left in the contrail.
Those tiny pieces condense, freeze and then expand in the less dense upper atmosphere, and when combined with sunlight can produce a spectacular, colorful effect in the sky.
Sometimes mistaken for a failed launch, the effect sometimes is seen as far away as San Diego along with Arizona, Nevada and Utah.
The sight created by Monday’s launch captured the attention of visitors celebrating a birthday at Disneyland.
Conditions Monday also allowed viewers to see the first-stage booster, or lower two-thirds of the rocket, and the two halves of the payload fairing, or nose cone, falling back to Earth.
What one spectator believed to be the rocket “pooping out satellites” actually were the three components returning to landing sites in the ocean since SpaceX plans to reuse them for future missions.
The first-stage booster for the flight completed its 23rd launch and landing with the return to the Of Course I Still Love You droneship.
Recycling the first-stage booster and payload fairing halves allows SpaceX to reduce the cost of its rockets and time between missions.
It was the sixth launch of 2025 from Vandenberg, with all of them involving Falcon rockets.
Later this month, a pair of NASA payloads plan to travel into orbit aboard a Falcon rocket set to launch from the West Coast.
Other launch vehicles built by different companies also are expected to blast off this year from Vandenberg to conduct various missions.
