Did you see the SpaceX rocket fly across Southern California sky? What we know about the mysterious streak.
A SpaceX rocket launch originating from Vandenberg Space Force Base left a streak of light across Southern California's skyline Tuesday night.
According to SpaceX's website, the Falcon 9 launch is sending 22 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit. The liftoff happened around 7:30 p.m. April 1.
The launch was originally scheduled last week for March 28, but was delayed due to weather.
After the launch, a glittering streak appeared across the sky in Southern California around 1:45 a.m., which appeared to be orbital debris.
KCAL News talked to one woman who witnessed the mysterious streak across the sky in Hollywood as she was walking her dog early Tuesday morning.
"I thought it was beautiful, but I was also afraid it was something bad because it reminded me of rocket launches I've seen online. I was glad there was another person out who saw it with me," said Roseleen Browne.
The mysterious streak seemed to be unrelated to the SpaceX rocket launch.
"Based on tracking data from the USSF 18th Space Defense Squadron, our analysis suggests that the object seen reentering over Los Angeles this morning was the orbital module from the November 2022 Chinese Shenzhou-15 launch to their space station," said a statement from The Aerospace Corporation. "The module had a mass of approximately 1500kg, which is large enough to create visible debris as it reentered. The timing and location where the debris was observed are consistent with predictions of the objects orbit."
