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[–] Owlchemy [OP] 0 points (+0|-0)

Residents described the expanding nebula, containing two active rocket stages and multiple shock waves as "exciting," "heart-stopping," "riveting," and "like an alien invasion!" But this was no alien. All the technology came from the Earth labs of SpaceX, which launched the rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

The Falcon 9 propelled an Argentine environmental satellite into orbit. The rocket's previously flown first stage then flipped around and returned to Vandenberg, chalking up SpaceX's first West Coast landing. The booster put on a spectacular show as it descended tail first, deploying four legs and firing up one of its nine engines to slow for touchdown in a cloud of fiery exhaust.