Mar 24, 2020 I Paul Seaburn

SpaceX Rocket Looks Like a UFO and Attracts One Too

What is it about SpaceX and UFOs? The gangs of tiny satellites it’s been launching are responsible for many UFO sightings recently. It’s nighttime launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base north of Los Angeles have been blamed for other UFO sightings. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded on its launchpad in 2016 with a mysterious UFO in the sky behind it, launching plenty of conspiracy theories. A UFO was spotted near a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule while it was attached to the International Space Station.

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A SpaceX Falcon launching from Vandenberg AFB in 2017.

Need more? A recent UFO sighting over Phoenix had “Phoenix lights” hopefuls hoping, but it looks like it was another SpaceX launch. A few days earlier, the camera on another SpaceX launch picked up a UFO near the launch rocket as it descended for a landing. Should we be mad at Elon Musk … or jealous?

"We saw this really bright, bright light shining from an object moving away. It looked like a UFO to us."

Well, if you haven’t seen a rocket launch on a hazy night, this one (see the photos here) probably struck you as a UFO too. AZ Central reports that Pam Sutton of Maricopa, Arizona, said she and her husband were driving around 7 p.m. and both saw the strange sky anomaly, as did everyone who pulled off the road with them, an editor for the Arizona Republic and former Arizona governor Jan Brewer. The Arizona Republic and local police received numerous calls, before SpaceX cleared things up with an email (wow … what a sense of urgency!) to Phoenix Fire Department’s Capt. Rob McDade.

"We were told it was indeed the SpaceX Rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base."

SpaceX again … and yes, this one was also launching 10 mini-satellites. While the cases of mistaken identity don’t seem to be bothering SpaceX and CEO Elon Musk, could it be bothering actual UFO pilots?

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Heads it's SpaceX, tails it's aliens.

“During the streamed launch of SpaceX Starlink 3/18/2020, during the decent of first stage rocket and seconds before the re-entry burn, an object is seen from under the rocket. The object is either stationary and the rocket is falling passed it or the object is traveling in a vertical direction (unknown if up or down).”

That description comes from “Latest UFO Sightings” which posted the video (see it here) and photos, as did a few other sites (here’s another one), not to mention SpaceX itself, which posted the entire launch (watch it here). They report that there’s not much else to report. Launch debris? Certainly a possibility, although one would think SpaceX takes extreme precautions to avoid creating debris that would linger so closely to the only reusable rockets as they land. A drone? Again, SpaceX is doing enough ‘dark’ missions for the military (although this wasn’t one) to make sure no one is trying to catch a glimpse of the launch or the secret cargo. Aliens? Have we exhausted the process-of-elimination yet?

Debris, drones and other natural reasons for this UFO should be alarming to SpaceX and Musk. However, no one seems to be alarmed. Is that a signal that it’s something else? In the meantime, maybe Ken Burns should devote his next documentary to showing all the things in the sky that are NOT alien spaceships. There’s a show that could stretch longer than “The Civil War”!

Paul Seaburn

Paul Seaburn is the editor at Mysterious Universe and its most prolific writer. He’s written for TV shows such as "The Tonight Show", "Politically Incorrect" and an award-winning children’s program. He's been published in “The New York Times" and "Huffington Post” and has co-authored numerous collections of trivia, puzzles and humor. His “What in the World!” podcast is a fun look at the latest weird and paranormal news, strange sports stories and odd trivia. Paul likes to add a bit of humor to each MU post he crafts. After all, the mysterious doesn't always have to be serious.

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