The Los Angeles “UFO” — SpaceX Iridium-4 launch
At 5:27 p.m. on December 22, 2017, twenty minutes after sunset, a Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg carrying ten Iridium NEXT satellites. High above the darkening ground the exhaust was still in sunlight, and the expanding plume, the staging and the fairing separation drew a luminous, jellyfish-like cloud seen from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and Phoenix. Phones and social media filled with pictures of a UFO; the Los Angeles Fire Department put out an advisory that the “mysterious light in the sky” was the launch, and Elon Musk posted the video as a “nuclear alien UFO from North Korea”. The launch had been announced in advance; twilight launches from Vandenberg have caused the same reports since.
Explanation
A scheduled Falcon 9 launch carrying ten Iridium NEXT satellites from Vandenberg; the exhaust plume, lit by the Sun after sunset on the ground, made the glowing cloud. The Los Angeles Fire Department issued an advisory that the light came from the launch.
What was seen
Shape: A glowing, expanding jellyfish-like cloud with a bright point at its head
Witnesses: Thousands across Southern California, Nevada and Arizona
Duration: Several minutes
Sources
- SpaceX — Iridium-4 press kit (copy at The Black Vault)
- The Black Vault — UFO, Los Angeles, December 22, 2017: solved
- Via Satellite — Spectacular SpaceX launch mystifies Los Angeles (2017)
Browse
- United States
- 2010s
- Identified
- Mass sightings
- Many independent witnesses
- Photographs
- Video footage
- Lights and fireballs