California man spots strange white object in sky during middle of SpaceX launch and asks what it is

While staring at the California skyline to watch a rocket head towards space, this man was left bemused as a strange white object was caught flying near the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch that he could not explain.

California, Florida, and Texas locals, more than anyone, are lucky enough to witness moments that can change our understanding of the universe.

Thanks to a launchpad at Vandenberg Space Force Base Space Launch Complex 4, rockets can regularly be seen lighting up neighborhoods across the state, as Starlink satellites head to their stations in low Earth orbit.

However, the most recent Valentine’s Day special saw one man catch more than what he was bargaining for – and it seems there was more than love in the air.

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SpaceX Falcon 9 launch leaves one Californian man baffled with mystery object

Watching the Falcon 9 is one of the most awe-inspiring sights imaginable, as the SpaceX rocket illuminates the skies when taking off and returning to the ground.

Having completed hundreds of flights, locals have grown accustomed to seeing it in the air.

However, as a Valentine’s Day special saw Falcon 9 launch for the 600th time, one man in Fillmore, California, saw a second light soaring through the skies.

The mystery object flew perpendicular to the Falcon 9, taking a completely different trajectory from the rocket.

Highlighted on Reddit and visible in the video at the top of this article, user ‘floater_805’ captured the moment on his Samsung Galaxy S24.

“While watching the rocket, we noticed a solid white dot streaming across the sky,” he said.

“It was moving incredibly fast – almost like a comet – but it had no blinking FAA lights and seemed to be on a completely different trajectory than the main SpaceX craft.

“I’m not sure if this is a booster re-entry, a piece of hardware separating, or something else entirely. It looked much brighter and ‘solid’ to the naked eye than it does on the screen.”

There does appear to be an explanation, though.

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What was the strange white object?

While many people suggested that it might have been a meteor, others claimed that these rare sightings are much quicker and happen in the blink of an eye, whereas the white light in the user’s video was more constant and slower.

Instead, using flight radar to track airplanes, it turned out that this sighting was actually an Alaska Airlines aircraft on its way to LAX.

The airplane flew across this area shortly after 6pm, just moments after the SpaceX rocket left the pad in Vandenberg.

Others cleared up that the blinking white light, visible intermittently, is the booster pad that follows the Falcon 9 spacecraft.

Funnily enough, plane passengers have even recorded SpaceX rockets leaving Earth from arguably the best seat on the planet.

These encounters could soon become even more frequent, as SpaceX recently ramped up its rocket-launching activities as it plans to send a spacecraft to the moon every ten days, in a bid to build a base there.

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