By Charly SHELTON

It started with a small red dot. That dot grew a tail as it streaked into the sky. And then … boom! Separation from a small streak of light into a steadily expanding cloud of water vapor frozen at high altitude that caught the last rays of the setting sun, and two bright points of light flying away from the cloud. SpaceX’s launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Sunday night could be seen as far east as Arizona and as far north as San Francisco, and caused residents all over the Crescenta Valley to pause and look up at the sky.

During the annual chili cook-off at the Light on the Corner Church in Montrose, the evening ground to a halt when one attendee made his way to the back of the festival, telling everyone to look up in the sky because SpaceX had just launched a rocket. A crowd gathered at the back of the parking lot to see the glowing cloud fill the sky. Even the festival’s live band got in on the act, changing the lyrics to popular songs to fit the rocket in the sky theme.

SpaceX launched the SAOCOM 1A Mission at 7:21 p.m. from VAFB to deliver Argentina’s satellite of the same name. The satellite is operated by Argentina’s Space Agency, the National Commission on Space Activities (CONAE). The satellite and its counterpart, SAOCOM 1B, will gather soil moisture information. The Falcon 9 rocket, after delivering its payload, separated and came back to Earth, landing back at VAFB. This marks the first time SpaceX has launched and returned to the West Coast.

  Charly Shelton