SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket from Southern California and warns of a sonic boom in the region

SpaceX launched the Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County on Saturday evening, and the company had warned that area residents could hear a sonic boom or two as the rocket landed.

Falcon 9, described by the aerospace giant as the world's first reusable orbital-class rocket, was scheduled to lift off from the US Air Force base at 10:13 p.m. PST, carrying the OneWeb Launch 20 mission into low Earth orbit. After departing from Space Launch Complex 4 East, the rocket was expected to land at SpaceX's Landing Zone 4 in Vandenberg about eight minutes after liftoff.

The rocket explosion was broadcast live on Saturday evening.

“There is a possibility that residents of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties may hear one or more sonic booms during landing, but what residents experience will depend on weather and other conditions,” the company said in a statement.

Sonic booms have been a particular point of controversy surrounding SpaceX's rocket launches off the state's coast. Last week, the California Coastal Commission denied the Elon Musk-owned company's plans for more launches as it proposed increasing the number of explosions to up to 50 per year. In response, SpaceX sued the state board this week.

Members of the commission expressed concerns about possible impacts on wildlife. Environmentalists warned of possible harm to marine life, birds and other animals. According to the Los Angeles Times, residents of Southern California have also felt the effects of the sonic booms and have sometimes been frightened by their noise and impact.

“One time I thought a car had hit my house,” Mikayla Shocks of Camarillo told the Times. “Everyone feels it. We hear the bang. My dog ​​is freaking out.”

According to the Times, U.S. Space Force officials said that while some monitoring has shown animals may flee due to the noise, they typically return later and there have been no long-term effects. However, some environmentalists and scientists told the Times that these reactions could already be an indicator that wildlife could be harmed in the long term.

“Over a longer period of time, fish populations may decline as they move away from sound, or they may be affected to such an extent that it affects their health,” Duncan Leitch, a professor of integrative biology at UCLA, said the news agency. “It would change the ecosystem for other animals that rely on fish.”

However, SpaceX's federal lawsuit also cites the fact that some members of the state board mentioned Musk's beliefs, with some members mentioning his involvement in the presidential campaign as he supported Donald Trump and political comments he made. In court filings, his company's lawsuit accused the Coastal Commission of “naked political discrimination.”

Meanwhile, Musk has received support in the ongoing legal battle from a relatively unlikely source – California Gov. Gavin Newsom. “I agree with Elon,” the Democrat said late Thursday, according to Politico. “I didn’t like that.”

“You can’t address this political level explicitly,” he later added.