Southern Californians out for Valentine’s Day on Saturday night took a break from staring into each other’s eyes to stare at something else: a SpaceX rocket streaking across the Southern sky in the early evening.
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Saturday night. According to the company, the rocket will carry 24 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit.
SpaceX’s satellite internet provider Starlink has launched about 11,000 Starlink broadband satellites into space since 2019 using its workhorse Falcon 9 satellites.
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At 7:03 pm, SpaceX announced on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that 24 Starlink satellites had been successfully deployed.
SpaceX said on its launch page that residents of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties may experience one or more sonic booms during launches, a phenomenon that has long unsettled residents and raised concerns about the impact of sonic booms on nearby endangered species.
SpaceX plans three more launches from Vandenberg this month, with the next expected on Wednesday, according to the company’s website.
This is the fourth SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg this month.
Falcon 9 is a reusable two-stage rocket. After completing the stage separation process Saturday night, the rocket’s first stage will land on the Of Course I Still Love You drone ship, which will be stationed in the Pacific, according to the company.
“Love is in the air,” one X user quipped, “and so is Falcon 9.”
Times staff writer Laurence Darmiento contributed to this report.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
