The first time that Gene Kozicki led to Lompoc to see a rocket exploded from the base of Vandenberg's space force, it was night, and the whole scene reminded him of the movie “Nearly close encounters of the third type.” The road was blocked. There was a policeman. Intermittent lights. A type of foot near Kozicki had a radio scanner, and listened like a spartan voice told: Ten, nine, eight, seven … On the hill, where the rocket was on the pad, everything was dark.
And then it wasn't.
“Heaven illuminates and it's like the day,” Kozicki said. “This rocket appears and then a few seconds later, the sound hits you. It's just this roar and rumble, and then it is a crunch. And then you look at it and realize that this thing is not a movie. This really goes to space.”
People (and dogs) meet in Lompoc to see Spacex successfully launch a Falcon 9 rocket. (George Rose / Getty images)
Kozicki told me about that experience, since we both stopped on a sand dune in surf Beach, on the outskirts of Lompoc, waiting for a different rocket to be launched. Through my binoculars I could see a 5 Spacex Falcon 9 block on the Vandenberg pad, with a Starlink satellite at the top. Spacex and other companies have been sending more and more rockets in recent years, and Lompoc has become a one -day excursion destination for amateur aerospace.
With Blue Origin sending a team of women, including Katy Perry, Gayle King and Lauren SánchezFrom western Texas in April and my social foods full of launches from the central coast of California, not to mention the supernatural capacity of the founder of Spacex Elon Musk to stay in the news, it seemed that everyone was talking about rockets, so I wanted to approach a takeoff as close as possible.
He had led Surf Beach by Bradley Wilkinson's advice, who runs the Facebook group Vandenberg Rocket launches. When he was asked for the best place to experience a launch, Wilkinson had responded, the typical manner of connoisseurs, with their own questions.
“Do you want to see it?” Wilkinson asked me. “Do you want to feel it? Do you want to listen to it?”
If I had only wanted to see him, he said, he could do it easily from Los Angeles. If I chose a Twilight launch, I could even see the Medusa effect That happens when sunlight is reflected in the rocket pen. (People throughout the south of California had that experience Earl this week.) But I wanted more. I wanted to listen and feel the launch, so I went for Vandenberg on a clear Friday afternoon, staying just before traffic.
The rocket launches have become more frequent at the base of the Vandenberg space force, located in Santa Barbara County.
(Anadolu agency through Getty Images)
Not all are fans of the increase in the frequency of Spacex launches. Beyond the many controversies surrounding the founder of the company, there are concerns about the effects of Sonic booms in the environmentAnd the California Coastal Commission has been fighting Spacex in court about the need for permits. Some Lompoc residents have complained about the effects of everything that rumbled in their homes, but others, such as Wilkinson, enjoy living so close to action; He said that he doesn't even bother to straighten the photos on the walls of his house.
While driving on the coast, I kept checking the Facebook group to obtain updates. The releases can be scrubbing for any number of reasons, and Wilkinson and other group members, including Kozicki, have become experts in reading signals: they track the climate; They look at the movement of the rocket towards the pad; They monitor the website and social networks of Spacex.
I got up to surf parking Beach about an hour before the launch, and that was where I met Kozicki, chatting with a Spacex engineer and his mother. The engineer was out of the clock, but that did not prevent his mother from telling everyone, with pride, that his daughter worked in Spacex. It became a chorus during the next hour:
“You should ask my daughter. She works in Spacex.”
“Stop telling all those who work in Spacex!”
From the top of the dunes, the four saw the launch of the revealing escape signs. I thought about how, thousands of miles away, the crowds in the Plaza de San Pedro had watched White smoke with a similar feeling in advance. Other spectators soon crossed the ice plants and joined us on our hanger. Some of them had parked in a larger lot towards the north and followed the train tracks that ran parallel to the beach.
The Spacex engineer answered questions about the rocket stages and landing burns. He was not authorized to talk to the media, but shared his knowledge with all his mother sent him.
We all saw and wait. More people walked through the dunes, including Dan Tauber, who said he had been motorcycling around the area with friends before deciding to break the group to experience the launch.
“You want to feel that your breast bones,” he said. “So why not get closer as possible?”
Kozicki announced to the group that we would know that the launch was about to happen, really to happen, when we saw a flood of water in the pad. Then it would be a matter of seconds before takeoff.
Tauber and I sat together in the sand. We saw and waited. He had been a firefighter in San Francisco. Now he lived in San Diego. We saw. We hope. A Pacific Surfliner train in southern direction was arrested next to the parking lot. The railway bell continued sounding, adding to the tension.
“Flood!” Kozicki shouted.
“Flood!” He shouted to the mother of the Spacex engineer.
Three seconds later, on. Fire. Smoke. Takeoff.
Cameras click.
Someone shouted: “Whoa!”
I could have done the same.
A Spacex Falcon 9 rocket rises. The basis of the Vandenberg space force has organized 836 rocket releases to date.
(Patrick T. Fallon / AFP through Getty Images)
The rocket sound came later, just as Kozicki had described. Roar. Rumble. Crackle.
Tauber lay down and said: “I'm just going to enjoy it. I take photos for me.”
The rocket got up in the blue sky. I managed to get some photos, but the flames were so bright that my camera's configuration went crazy. I put the camera down and I saw the rocket rise, above. Then he left. Awestruced, I stood up, wanting more. I wasn't sure where to go later.
I knew it would come back.
Tips for experiencing a Vandenberg rocket launch
Find an upcoming release
Start with a place like spacelaunchschedule.com. However, there are many reasons why a launch could be scrubbing, so Wilkinson suggests verifying the Vandenberg Rocket launches Group approximately 12 hours before a takeoff is scheduled to see if it will really happen. The final authority for Spacex launches would be Spacex.com.
If you just want to see the rocket, leave when there is a scheduled take -off for Twilight or later. Depending on the weather, you should be able to see the rocket scratching in the sky of Los Angeles.
For a closer look, go to Lompoc
Surf Beach is a good place, although parking can be filled quickly. There is Another parking lot To the north, in Ocean Park, about 30 minutes at the foot of Surf Beach. Wilkinson also recommended only parking along Ocean Avenue to feel the launch on his feet.
“There is more towards there,” he said. “You can feel the vibration on the ground.” Other visualization places, recommended by Explore LompocThey include Santa Lucia Canyon Road & Victory Road; Harris Grade Road; and Marshallia Ranch Road. It doesn't matter where it is, be considered with the locals. That means there is no drum, and there is no tail at the middle of the night. The roads can be full of cars and people, so be careful, whether driving or walking.
While in Lompoc
If you are looking for food after the launch, it had a satisfactory surfing and grass of Mariss El Palmar (722 E. Ocean Ave) in Lompoc, right next to a bar called Pour Decions.
There is a renowned hamburger in Jalama Playa storewhere you can also see a release. Jalama Beach County Park has Many charmsBut the cell signal is irregular, so it is likely that you have no way of knowing if a launch has been scrubbing at the last minute. But you will have a good trip in any way.
Are you looking to spend the night? The Village Inn (3955 Apollo Way) I just opened and is marketed as inspired by “the golden age of space exploration”. If you are having a space day, you could go to the end.
