Tens of thousands in San Diego County marveled at the sudden streak across the sky at 5:27 p.m. tonight.

But it wasn’t a meteor or an asteroid or even a UFO.

It was the contrail from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base Friday night.

This was SpaceX’s 18th and final mission of the year and included 10 satellites being thrust into orbit.


1 / 23 SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch as seen from Escondido. (Sharon Sherman) 2 / 23 SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch seen from Granite Hills. (James Lennon) 3 / 23 Wendy Fry shot this photo from Kearney Mesa. (Wendy Fry / Wendy Fry) 4 / 23 The rocket launch as seen from Sunset Cliffs. John Sullivan photo () 5 / 23 SpaceX missile launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base is seen over San Marcos on Friday. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 6 / 23 SpaceX missile launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base is seen over the Kaiser Permanente building in San Marcos on Friday. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 7 / 23 SpaceX missile launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base is seen over San Marcos on Friday. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 8 / 23 SpaceX missile launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base is seen over San Marcos on Friday. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 9 / 23 SpaceX missile launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base is seen over San Marcos on Friday. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 10 / 23 SpaceX rocket launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base is seen going behind a hillside in San Marcos on Friday. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 11 / 23 What appears to be a part of a SpaceX rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base is seen going down in the west in San Marcos on Friday. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 12 / 23 A SpaceX rocket launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base is seen going behind a hillside in San Marcos on Friday. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 13 / 23 SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stage separation during its final mission of the year, from Vandenburg Air Force Base in California seen over the Moon. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 23 The sky above Kearny Villa Road lit up with the contrail from a SpaceX rocket launched Friday from Vandenberg Air Force Base. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 15 / 23 SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch seen over Los Angeles. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 23 SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch seen over Los Angeles. (Sam Farmer / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 23 Phil Diehl shot this while in Carlsbad. (Phil Diehl / San Diego Union-Tribune) 18 / 23 SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch seen over Los Angeles. (George Wilhelm / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 23 John Gibbins photo of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch tonight as seen from North Park. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 20 / 23 Rocket launch from Vandenburg as seen from Ocean Beach. Teri Sforza photo (Teri Sforza) 21 / 23 SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch seen over Los Angeles. (Joe Mozingo / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 23 SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch seen over Los Angeles. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 23 Rocket launch as seen from the College Grove mall in Oak Park. (Pauline Repard)

The rocket was visible for a little over two minutes and the exhaust plume could be seen over a wide swath of Southern California and the west.

Sunlight from the setting sun hit the unspent fuel from the rocket, creating the “twilight effect,” across the sky.

“Night launches are spectacular,” Stephen Cobb, a San Diego cyber security expert, said on Twitter.


Another observer, Rachel Meza of Tucscon, Arizona, emailed the U-T to say, “Hey! I don’t know if I’m late to the party, but the rocket was seen in Tucson too!”

Dana Fadlalla, who captured a video of the launch, said, “Saw this strange light in the sky over Coronado and started recording. People had theories it was North Korea and my nephew thought the sky was falling.”

Graciela Frazier, a U-T reader, said, “Glad it was a rocket launch. My son in Rancho Santa Margarita sent me two awesome videos & was wondering what it was. I think he was freaked out thinking it was a UFO - LOL!”

Beth Chee of Mission Valley said, “It was so cool, but I was kind of hoping it was aliens. This is the pic from my house in Mission Valley.”


The rocket was originally on the northern horizon and then headed southwest.

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gary.robbins@sduniontribune.com