12/3/2018 VAFB SpaceX Launch

[SBitz]

Here are some long zoom pix from SB of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch 12/3/2018 at Vandenberg. It carried the Spaceflight SSO-A: SmallSat Express multiple payload from VAFB Space Launch Complex-4E. After the rocket cleared the mountains and some trees near my location, it took a moment to center and focus before snapping this (inset is higher resolution crop of the same pic). At this point it was going through part of the atmosphere where conditions were right for making a contrail much like those of high flying jet aircraft.

We could barely distinguish the rocket roar above the din of Hwy.101 nearby, but later we could hear it a little better.

Here's a series of shots as it went up through layers of the atmosphere, changing the flame tail after the contrail had pretty much disappeared.

Here's my last good shot of the first stage firing. Now it's near the edge of space, where the plume fans out into a wider trail of gas particles. I didn't get any pix of the second stage, and just barely missed catching the bright main descent burn of the returning first stage before it fired again to ace a landing on the barge relatively near VAFB.

Lastly, here's how the initial launch trail looked a few minutes later after the show was over.

Here's a link to the SpaceX uTube vid, cued to T-10 seconds:

SpaceX YouTube Video Link