The Us Air Force has warned Californians about loud booming and burning in the sky on October 7 night, as the upcoming SpaceX’s launch at Vandenberg Base is set to launch.
"This will be SpaceX's first land landing attempt at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Local residents may see the first stage of the Falcon 9 returning to Vandenberg AFB, including multiple engine burns associated with the landing. During the landing attempt residents from Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties may hear one or more sonic booms," the warning on their web-site reads.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk posted a warning on his Twitter feed that the boom “won’t be subtle”.
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This Falcon will be returning with the payload of an Argentinian satellite, which is one of the six-piece satellite consortium, targeted to capture high-resolution images of Earth.
The Falcon 9, set from Vandenberg Air Force Base, will go on the first ever mission of this kind, as the rocket would attempt ground-based landing on the West Coast and attempt to return to the company’s launch pad at Vandenberg Base, rather than landing at sea on a drone-catching vessel. Earlier landings have been carried out on the East coast, at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Station.
The challenging peculiarity on the West coast is the 400-meter distance between the company’s two pads. This is way less than the gap between pads in Florida, which is several kilometers long.
The launch is scheduled no earlier than no earlier than 7:21 p.m. PDT.