SpaceX Aces First Landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base
SpaceX landed a Falcon 9 rocket back at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), CA for the first time this evening. While the company’s launches and landings on the East Coast have become almost routine, this is the first time it attempted a landing at its Landing Zone 4 at VAFB.
The launch was of a synthetic aperture radar remote sensing satellite, SAOCOM 1A, for Argentina’s space agency Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE).
CBS News space reporter Bill Harwood tweeted statistics on the number of SpaceX launches and landings, while SpaceX and others tweeted views of the launch and landing including amazing shots of how it looked along the California coast (one of which was tweeted by Eric Garcetti, the Mayor of Los Angeles).
F9/SAOCOM1A: Satellite SEPARATION confirmed! That completes the launch phase of today’s mission. This was SpaceX’s 17th flight so far this year, the 44th successful launch in a row and the 63rd overall for the Falcon 9 family of rockets, including the three-core Falcon Heavy.
— William Harwood (@cbs_spacenews) October 8, 2018
F9/SAOCOM1A: TOUCHDOWN! The 1st stage is safely down on Landing Zone 4; this was the first rocket landing at the West Coast Air Force base; SpaceX record now stands at 11 Cape Canaveral landings, 1 at Vandenberg and 18 on droneships
— William Harwood (@cbs_spacenews) October 8, 2018
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/rzFcHcEvnA
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 8, 2018
Falcon 9 on Landing Zone 4 after delivering SAOCOM 1A to low Earth orbit, marking the 30th successful landing of a rocket booster. pic.twitter.com/8cgAaWlBEl
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 8, 2018
Nope, definitely not aliens.
What you’re looking at is the first launch and landing of the @SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the West Coast. The rocket took off from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 7:21 p.m. and landed safely back on Earth. ? pic.twitter.com/8AKjGptpps
— Mayor Eric Garcetti (@MayorOfLA) October 8, 2018
Shot of the first and second stages of the @SpaceX Falcon 9, seen from Santa Clarita pic.twitter.com/gu2jZ5Q2Kb
— Kevin M. Gill (@kevinmgill) October 8, 2018
Launch of the @spacex Falcon 9 as seen from Santa Clarita pic.twitter.com/aWRUSgjEoQ
— Kevin M. Gill (@kevinmgill) October 8, 2018
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