US

Strange lights in California sky leave residents baffled

Display the result of Elon Musk’s SpaceX using rocket to propel satellites into orbit

Social media users react to Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, launched from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base to propel 10 satellites into orbit.
Sat Dec 23 2017 - 13:39

Elon Musk’s SpaceX turned heads in California when it lit up the night sky after a rocket was launched propelling 10 satellites into orbit.

Witnesses were both puzzled and alarmed by the illumination at around 5.30pm in Los Angeles on Friday, which was caused by a venture to improve a communications network.

Singers Billy Ray Cyrus and will.i.am as well as skateboarder Tony Hawk were among the celebrities pondering what the contrails were.

In this photo provided by Javier Mendoza, the contrail from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is seen from Long Beach, California, more than 100 miles southeast from its launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Photograph: Javier Mendoza via AP.
In this photo provided by Javier Mendoza, the contrail from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is seen from Long Beach, California, more than 100 miles southeast from its launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Photograph: Javier Mendoza via AP.
A photograph released by SpaceX shows its Falcon 9 rocket before liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Photograph: SpaceX via AP.
A photograph released by SpaceX shows its Falcon 9 rocket before liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Photograph: SpaceX via AP.

will.i.am posted a video to Twitter and asked his millions of followers: “What is this in the sky?”

READ MORE

Hawk, about 200km south of LA in San Diego, posed the same question while actor Don Cheadle merely wrote: “uh...”

Some speculated the UFO was an alien visit, to which tech entrepreneur Musk joked: “It was definitely aliens.”

Los Angeles Fire Department had issued an alert to explain that the “mysterious light in the sky” was the rocket launch.

The Falcon 9 rocket was launched from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base at 5.27pm and the satellites were dispersed around an hour later.

The launch for communications firm Iridium was part of one of the largest tech upgrades in history, according to SpaceX. - AP