A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket shined above a twinkling Christmas tree like a festive tree topper throughout final week’s vacation lighting ceremony at Vandenberg Space Force Base.
SpaceX launched 20 new Starlink web satellites from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base on Wednesday (Dec. 4) at 10:05 p.m. EST (7:05 p.m. native California time; 0305 GMT on Dec. 5). The launch coincided with the annual tree lighting ceremony held on the base to ring within the vacation season.
The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink satellites seems as the proper tree topper in a brand new photograph from the lighting ceremony, which captures the gleaming spacecraft simply above an illuminated Christmas tree decked with multi-colored lights.
The annual vacation tree lighting hosted an array of actions together with ice skating, meals vans, a Christmas market and a particular food and drinks menu on the base’s Pacific Coast Center, in line with a press release from the Vandenberg Space Force Base. To kick off the occasion, U.S. Space Force Col. Mark Shoemaker, Space Launch Delta 30 commander, delivered a speech to the assembled personnel and members of the family.
The Dec. 4 Starlink launch marked a significant milestone for SpaceX with the satellites efficiently deployed in low Earth orbit (LEO) about 61 minutes after liftoff as deliberate.
Thirteen of the newly launched satellites characterize the completion of the primary Starlink satellite tv for pc direct-to-cell telephone constellation. This intricate community of satellites will enable unmodified cell telephones to hook up with immediately the satellite tv for pc web community from distant areas or these missing infrastructure.
Roughly eight minutes after liftoff, Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth as deliberate, touchdown on a SpaceX droneship within the Pacific Ocean. This was the twelfth launch and touchdown for this explicit booster, half of which have supported Starlink satellite tv for pc missions.
