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Satellite Launch From Central Coast Successful; For First Time, Booster Lands Back At Vandenberg AFB

(SpaceX Photo)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 booster makes its first ever landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base Sunday night after putting a satellite into orbit

It was a spectacular sight in the skies above California.

A groundbreaking mission to launch a satellite into space from Vandenberg Air Force Base Sunday night created a giant glow in the sky visible from Los Angeles to the Bay Area. The 7:21 p.m. launch of a climate monitoring satellite for Argentina went exactly as planned.

Because of the time of night, and clear weather, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was visible for hundreds of miles, creating an eerie pattern in the sky.

But, what made it even more spectacular was that for the first time, SpaceX landed its reusable rocket booster back on land, at a special pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

A loud sonic boom was heard during the landing along much of the Central and South Coasts. During past missions, the booster was landed on an offshore barge.

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. 
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