Seeing a Rocket Launch from Claremont

5:30 AM on Saturday, December 18th, 2021 (Claremont, CA)

This morning I got to see the launch of 52 Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket from the foothills of my hometown. I know it sounds stupid, but even typing that sentence brings some happy tears to my eyes. I wasn’t expecting to have such an emotional response to seeing this launch, albeit from afar. I think it traces back to the fact that I just now had my first ‘real’ break of 2021. This whole year has pretty much been just school and work, with little time in-between. It’s been fun, but everyone needs to take some time off at some point. Being back in Claremont on winter break, I now have the time to slow down and reflect on the years I’ve spent at Purdue and how things have changed since I was last here. This whole morning made me remember a post I made on this website before I left for college. In it, I reflect on how uncertain I am regarding the future but also how I excited I am to be at Purdue.

In high school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Quite honestly I felt pretty helpless; my initial passion was distance running and track and field. I knew all the splits you needed to hit to get a certain PR in a certain race, I tracked my runs and workouts excessively, and I read book after book on the topic and watched race after race. I just loved it, and it made me so happy.

Then, I became injured to a point where I could no longer run competitively anymore, and my heart broke a little bit. I instead began doing Crossfit to try and build up my other muscles so I could begin running again. It’s at one of these Crossfit classes that I inadvertently saw the result of a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch paint the sky. The other people in the class and I were puzzled, watched the show for a moment, and then went back to our workout. I would later go onto Twitter and see that everyone was tweeting about how aliens had just arrived in Los Angeles. It was cool, but I didn’t think much of it.

Over the past year or so, I’ve become interested in space, and have realized that I actually saw a rocket launch that day (I didn’t believe it was aliens, but I wasn’t curious enough to really investigate it). Nearly four years ago to the day in 2017, I accidentally saw a rocket launch in Claremont, and this morning I actively sought one out. And over the past four years, I’ve begun to realize what it is that I like and what makes me excited to learn. To feel that after feeling so lost for so long, is why this morning’s launch meant so much to me. When you’re living day to day, it’s hard to see how far you’ve come and how much you’ve changed. But this morning really put my past experience at college into perspective, and how lucky I am to be able to have such an experience. My hope is that I can continue to be excited for these ‘rocket launch moments’ - whether they be something as simple as a movie premiere or going out with friends. They just make life so great. As I left you in my ‘Leaving for College’ post: onwards and upwards, right?

Of course, I could not leave you without a description of this morning’s launch:

I woke up around 4 AM PST, since the launch would occur at 4:41 AM PST from Vandenberg Space Force Base. I didn’t trust myself to make the 2-3 hour drive to see the launch up close at this hour, so instead I opted to drive a little ways up Mt. Baldy Road where I could get a complete view of the Southern California coast. Thankfully the location I had in mind is close to where I live so once I was ready I just drove over, parked by the side of the road, and began listing to the live stream of the launch.

At T-3 minutes, my heart jumped when I saw a large bright light streaking across the sky towards me. I looked between the sky and the live stream multiple times, until I realized it was a helicopter. . . oops. At T-1 minute I got out of my car and into the cold, and continued the count-down in my head. Once at T-0, I waited, unsure of where the rocket would appear over the mountains. Then, I saw a small ball of orange and yellow rise over the mountain range to the west, where it slowly rose while simultaneously moving south. This is the first thing that surprised me; how much it moved horizontally as opposed to vertically. This makes sense given its path to get into its 53.2 degree inclination orbit, and also in the sense that this is what you do in Kerbal Space Program (a launch-oriented video game) in order to get into orbit. Seeing it in person though was surprising and really cool though, because I had no idea it would be that exaggerated.

For a couple more minutes, the rocket continued to ascend down range, and I followed it as it moved across the sky. The second interesting thing was how many planes were still in the sky, flying as normal. I just know there was a lucky LAX flight that must’ve lifted off and circled around just in time to see the rocket launch which must’ve looked really cool from a plane. As the rocket continued to ascend, I began to notice a type of cone-shaped plume forming around it, with the rocket at the very apex. On the live stream, I heard them call out that the vehicle was going through max q, or maximum aerodynamic pressure. This was the third interesting thing, as I had no idea this would be as visible as it was.

After that, I heard call outs for main engine cutoff, fairing separation, and second stage separation and ignition. Shortly thereafter, I lost sight of the rocket, got back into my car to warm up, and continued to watch the livestream to confirm that the 52 Starlink satellites deployed successfully and that the booster was able to land in the Pacific. Overall, it was a wonderful morning, and I now know I need to make time to see as many rocket launches as possible.