Timelapse of This Week's Historic Falcon 9 Launch Shows the Booster's Return to Earth

This impressive compilation of over 1000 shots taken during SpaceX's SAOCOM West Coast launch will leave you breathless.
Loukia Papadopoulos

This week, SpaceX became officially coast-to-coast when it launched Argentina's SAOCOM-1A satellite through its West Coast landing pad. More impressively, about 8 minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster of the Falcon 9 pre-flown rocket came back to SpaceX's Vandenberg center. 

The event took place on time and as scheduled from its 10:21 p.m. EDT launch time and marked the first time Elon Musk and his team launched and landed in California. "This is great news for everyone here at SpaceX," Tom Praderio, a SpaceX firmware engineer, said during the launch commentary. "We're all very excited."

Even better, the company milestone was captured by photographer Jesse Jackson and turned into a mesmerizing timelapse that looks more like a shooting star than a rocket launch.

"Shot from Glamis at the Imperial Sand Dunes in California. This timelapse consists of 1,169 images taken in sequence to capture the epic event unfolding," wrote the artist on his YouTube post.

The magnificent view has been set to some moving music making for an even more profound experience. Jackson features similar timelapses of several other launches and celestial events.

Once you are done being inspired by this post, you may want to check out the rest of his YouTube videos. We promise you will not be disappointed.

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