Amazing Views of SpaceX Rocket Launch That Surprised Phoenix Residents

It was not a “nuclear alien UFO from North Korea,” as the person with the most inside information jokingly tweeted last night. It was a dramatic, eerie, momentarily inexplicable sight, as people around the Valley gathered gathered together in the chilly darkness, looked skyward, and swiftly texted friends and family, asking what the heck was that two-tailed comet-like object pushing across the horizon, seeming to have emanated from a bizarre luminous cloud on an otherwise black night?

It didn’t take long for the answer to spread: Elon Musk’s SpaceX company had launched a rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Southern California. One of the best local videos was taken by the Phoenix CityCam, mounted atop City Hall:

Phoenix photographer and filmmaker Mike Olbinski seems to have been caught off guard, too, but wow:

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While perspective made the rocket appear to travel horizontally or even downward,  the SpaceX Falcon 9 booster did in fact propel 10 communication satellites upward into orbit. Musk, known to have a good, dry sense of humor, offered a different interpretation of the whole thing:

Many people in California were just as surprised as Arizona sky-gazers, and their ringside view made the sight all the more amazing as the rocket lit up the sky about 30 minutes after sunset, local time. Here’s a real-time view …

… and a sped-up version …

… and another view that shows just how wild it must’ve seemed from the Los Angeles region:

For a great explanation of why the rocket left such a bright, dramatic cloud behind, see this article by atmospheric science expert Marshall Shepherd. Meanwhile, where it all began …