At 6:19 am this morning, resident sky watcher and loyal Buzz reader Linda Sanoff captured the tail of exhaust gasses from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in the sky over Hancock Park. The photos were taken at the corner of Las Palmas and Rosewood looking west, Sanoff reported this morning.
Launched this morning from Vandenberg Air Force Base, the rocket is carrying the PAZ imaging satellite that will be placed into lowEarth polar-sun synchronous orbit. The satellite’s orbit will allow it to vertically circle the earth passing over the north and south poles 15 times per day. The sun synchronous orbit will keep the satellite directly in line with the sun so that it sees all points of the earth from exactly the same lighting conditions as illuminated by the sun.
According to SpaceX, the official launch time was 6:17 am. A replay of the launch webcast can be viewed on the video below. Note, the launch starts at 16:49 minutes into the 30 minute video.
