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Did you see it? SpaceX launches spy satellite payload from the Central Coast

A Thursday morning Falcon 9 lanch from Vandenberg Space Force Base
SpaceX
A Thursday morning Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base

It's the 35th SpaceX flight of the year from Vandenberg Space Force Base.

Maybe you saw it! It was a spectacular rocket launch from the Central Coast.

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 10:13 a.m. Thursday. The rocket carried a payload of secret military satellites. Officials aren’t giving out details about the mission, which was officially called NROL-167.

The reusable first stage booster landed on a barge off the west coast.

It was the 35th launch from the base this year.

The number of launches has been a major issue recently, with the State Coastal Commission objecting to Air Force plans to boost the number of SpaceX launches from the base annually to 50. The Commission feels the company should apply for its own permit for the launches, so environmental impacts can be more closely monitored and mitigated.

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.