Southern Californians looking up at the sky Monday night could see a SpaceX rocket after launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
the launch of the rocket which carries 15 Starlink Internet satellites into low Earth orbit is scheduled from the base northwest of Saint Barbara at 8:57 pm The launch is about an hour after sunset, a time period that could offer good viewing conditions from all over Southern California.
Launches before sunrise and after sunset offer a more spectacular view with a darker sky in the background and possibly a sunlit rocket.
Partly cloudy skies are forecast for Los Angeles.
The backup release windows would open at 10:30 pm and 11:28 pm on Tuesday. Click here to see SpaceX coverage of the launch.
After separation, the first stage booster will land on the ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ drone parked in the Pacific Ocean. This will be the fifth flight of the booster.
SpaceX has a Starlink constellation of satellites orbiting Earth about 340 miles high, carried into space by the Hawthorne-based company’s rockets. The Starlink network is designed to offer high-speed Internet anywhere in the world.
If the light conditions are just right, the satellites appear on a train as they parade across the night sky. The satellites are sometimes visible in the first few minutes after sunset and before sunrise when the sun is below the horizon, but the satellites are high enough to reflect direct sunlight.
use the tracker findstarlink to find the best upcoming viewing times.
