Mystery surrounds classified SpaceX rocket launch off California coast
Residents of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties may have been awoken by one or more sonic booms Saturday morning — evidence of a mysterious rocket launch by Elon Musks’s SpaceX.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying a USSF-385 mission for the US Space Force launched at 7 a.m. from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base on the Central Coast, Space.com reported.
The rocket’s mission, its destination and its activities are reportedly classified. The SpaceX webcast of the launch was cut short, which is typical for national security missions.
The rocket’s booster — a first-stage engine used to give a spacecraft the extra thrust needed to break free from Earth’s gravity and atmosphere — landed back on SpaceX’s drone ship in the Pacific Ocean about eight-and-a-half minutes later.
The launch marked SpaceX’s third classified Space Force mission from Vandenberg in just 16 days, according to Space.com.
Falcon 9 rockets launched the USSF-153 and USSF-259 missions from the base on Sept. 10 and Sept. 16, respectively.
The Falcon 9 has now been used more than 100 times this year. About three-quarters of its missions have been dedicated to building out the company’s satellite internet service, Starlink, which has more than 11,000 low-orbit satellites.
Musk’s rocket company has not only been boosting rockets, but also his fortune. He became the world’s first-ever trillionaire this summer as shares of SpaceX took off in the stock market.
Earlier this month, shares of SpaceX soared over 5% on news the company has a new launch date for Starship — a huge, fully-reusable rocket that’s central to the firm’s business plans.
A crucial 14th flight for Starship is planned for Monday, according to the company’s website. The upcoming flight is planned to be the first to send Starship into orbit around Earth.
