What was that?: SpaceX rocket launch lights up the Central California sky

What was that?: SpaceX rocket launch lights up the Central California sky

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — A spectacle in the skies over Central California has left many people wondering… “What was that?”

It seemed as a massive column of white smoke speckled with light dots.

That was a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base on the Central Coast.

The rocket was carrying 25 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit.

The rocket’s first and second stages separated around two and a half minutes after launch.

The second stage continued into orbit, while the first stage returned to Earth and landed safely on a drone ship off the coast of Baja California, Mexico.

SpaceX launches rockets from Vandenberg roughly once every week, but this one stuck out.

Clear skies, paired with a twilight launch just after sunset, allowed the rocket to capture sunlight at higher elevations, making it visible across much of the Valley.