SoCal Residents Witness Spectacular Plumes from Falcon 9's West Coast Launch

SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket off of Vandenberg Space Force Base in California early Monday night local time (Mar. 18), carrying 22 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit.

The Falcon 9 first stage returned to Earth by landing on the drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" stationed in the Pacific Ocean after separating from the upper stage that carried the satellites, Space.com reported.

But what made the launch fascinating was the exhaust plume created by the rocket's Merlin engines.

Several residents of San Diego witnessed how a white trail following the rocket split the dusk sky, with local media receiving photos from viewers as far east as Arizona and as far north as San Clemente.

Residents also shared their photos and videos on social media to chronicle what they saw in the night sky, with some, unaware of SpaceX's frequent launch cadence, wondering if they saw an alien spacecraft.

"Is this a SpaceX launch?" asked one user on X, formerly Twitter.

"Looks like [it's] the SpaceX launch tonight," tweeted another.

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Spacex, California, Southern California, San diego, Falcon 9