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Next SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch, Saturday, Should Be Visible Across SoCal

Anyone who someone managed to completely miss the last SpaceX launch in Southern California--the UFO-report-spurring, traffic-stopping launch of a set of satellites in December--might want to get up a little early on Saturday morning, and look to the North and West. SpaceX's launch of a satellite for Spanish satellite firm Hisdesat, as well as a secondary payload containing SpaceX's prototypes for its own Internet communications network, is expected to launch at 6:17 a.m. PDT on Saturday, February 17th. Barring any issues, that launch would put a re-used SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket into the air during morning twilight hours, potentially making the launch more visible to the public. The "Launch Hazard Area" bulletin issued to mariners in the area shows the first stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 heading nearly due South from Vandenberg Air Force Base, in a trajectory which should be visible across all of Southern California. SpaceX has not said if it will attempt to again land that first stage, but given the company's success in re-using its first stages it's likely they will attempt a barge landing. The two, SpaceX microsatellites being released in the launch are prototypes for a proposed constellation of an astounding 4,425 satellites which would provide widespread Internet access to the entire world.