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Maybe you saw it? Rocket lifts off from Central Coast, lifting 22 satellites into orbit

A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Vandenberg Space Force Base Thursday afternoon.
SpaceX
A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Vandenberg Space Force Base Thursday afternoon.

SpaceX launches a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base Thursday afternoon.

Maybe you got a glimpse of it. SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base Thursday afternoon, carrying 22 communications satellites into orbit.

The 1:34 p.m. launch was visible in parts of the Tri-Counties, but cloud cover obscured it in other areas. SpaceX reports the satellites were successfully deployed.

The reusable first stage booster landed successfully on a barge off the West Coast.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.