{"id":111834,"date":"2025-06-18T01:09:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T01:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/111834\/"},"modified":"2025-06-18T01:09:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T01:09:11","slug":"play-ball-how-about-play-missile-see-mondays-spacex-rocket-launch-from-dodgers-stadium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/111834\/","title":{"rendered":"Play ball? How about play missile? See Monday’s SpaceX rocket launch from Dodgers Stadium"},"content":{"rendered":"

Forget about Los Angeles Dodgers’ superstar Shohei Ohtani’s debut on the pitching mound<\/a> on Monday, the real spectacular sight at Dodger Stadium was the view of the SpaceX Launch<\/a> from the home of defending World Series Champions.<\/p>\n

At about 8:35 p.m. Monday in the 5th inning, Daily (Victorville) Press sportswriter Jose Quintero, <\/a>who was attending the game as a fan, saw and recorded the launch from the Vandenberg Space Force Base<\/a> in Santa Barbara County.<\/p>\n

The launch was part of the next Starlink deployment<\/a>, bringing satellite-powered internet to customers worldwide.<\/p>\n

If you missed Monday’s launch, don’t stress: Californians should likely still have multiple chances to catch a rocket launch in June.<\/p>\n

Oh, and by the way, the Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres<\/a> 6-3 on Monday. Ohtani, though, only lasted one inning, <\/a>giving up two hits and an earned run in his pitching debut for the team.<\/p>\n

What is SpaceX?<\/p>\n

Elon Musk<\/a>, the world’s richest man, founded SpaceX in 2002<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The commercial spaceflight company is headquartered at Starbase<\/a> in South Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border. The site, where SpaceX has been conducting routine flight tests of its 400-foot megarocket known as Starship, was recently voted by residents to become its city.<\/p>\n

SpaceX conducts many rocket launches, most using the Falcon 9 rocket, from California and Florida. That includes regular deliveries of Starlink internet satellites into orbit and occasional privately funded commercial crewed missions on the Dragon.<\/p>\n

The most recent of SpaceX’s private human spaceflights, a mission known as Fram2<\/a>, took place in April. SpaceX was also famously involved in funding and operating the headline-grabbing Polaris Dawn<\/a> crewed commercial mission in September 2024.<\/p>\n

SpaceX additionally benefits from billions of dollars in contracts from NASA and the Department of Defense by providing launch services for classified satellites and other payloads<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What is the Vandenberg Space Force Base?<\/p>\n

The Vandenberg Space Force Base is a rocket launch site<\/a> in Santa Barbara County in Southern California.Established in 1941, the site was previously known as the Vandenberg Air Force Base. Though it’s a military base, the site also hosts both civil and commercial space launches for entities like NASA and SpaceX.<\/p>\n

Space Launch Delta 30, a unit of the U.S. Space Force, is responsible for managing the launch operations at Vandenberg, as well as the missile tests that take place at the base.<\/p>\n

Related: What is the Vandenberg Space Force Base? 4 things to know about California rocket launches<\/a><\/p>\n

When is the next launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base?<\/p>\n

Californians won’t have to wait long to see another launch from Vandenberg. Here’s what to know about planned June launches:<\/p>\n

Friday, June 20: SpaceX Transporter 14<\/p>\n

Rocket: Falcon 9, a 230-foot, two-stage rocket<\/p>\n

Launch window: 2:19 p.m. PT Friday, June 20<\/p>\n

Rocket launch location: Space Launch Complex 4E from Vandenberg Space Force Base<\/p>\n

Booster landing: return to launch site<\/p>\n

June, TBA: NAOS<\/p>\n

Mission: Deploy a Luxembourg military reconnaissance satellite known as NAOS (National Advanced Optical System)<\/p>\n

Rocket: Falcon 9, a 230-foot, two-stage rocket<\/p>\n

Rocket launch location: Space Launch Complex 4E from Vandenberg Space Force Base<\/p>\n

It’s also important to remember that rocket launches can be \u2013 and often are \u2013 delayed due to many factors, including poor weather conditions or unexpected issues with spacecraft. Make sure to visit VC Star for the latest mission updates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: See Monday’s SpaceX rocket launch from Dodgers Stadium<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Forget about Los Angeles Dodgers’ superstar Shohei Ohtani’s debut on the pitching mound on Monday, the real spectacular…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[5,39,1165,4332,4333,774,57,3224,4331,4,24634,24636,18,468,24637,24635],"class_list":{"0":"post-111834","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-dodgers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-dodgers","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-la-dodgers","12":"tag-ladodgers","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangelesdodgers","17":"tag-mlb","18":"tag-rocket-launch","19":"tag-rocket-launches","20":"tag-san-diego-padres","21":"tag-shohei-ohtani","22":"tag-space-force","23":"tag-vandenberg-space-force-base"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114701701560894235","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}