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What is SpaceX hiding at Vandenberg? (self.spacex)

submitted 2 weeks ago by threelonmusketeers to c/spacex

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The webcasts for the past three launches out of Vandenberg California haven't gone live until Falcon 9 is well away from the pad. Any guesses as to why SpaceX is suddenly reluctant to show us the pad and surrounding area?

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[–] ptfrd 2 points 1 week ago (3 children)

An army of alien drones, preparing to conquer Earth on Christmas Day. Hiding at Vandenberg and many other military bases around the world.

;)

Or could it have just been so foggy on those occasions that some overworked SpaceX employee decided not to bother with any coverage until the rocket was clear?

[–] threelonmusketeers 1 points 4 days ago (2 children)

It's weird. For one webcast, they started it while Kate Tice was already mid-sentence with the commentary, so they had obviously planned to have coverage. It seems like SpaceX just forgetting to hit the "go live" button seems most likely at this point.

Harry Stranger compiled some satellite imagery, and there is no notable activity at Vandenberg:

https://bsky.app/profile/spacefromspace.com/post/3ld5hexi6lk2y

https://bsky.app/profile/spacefromspace.com/post/3ld5hf4uib22y

https://bsky.app/profile/spacefromspace.com/post/3ld5hfcfma22y

[–] ptfrd 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Weird. I wonder if the possible CCP spying incident of 2024-11-30 is related.

If any of the late-starting webcasts happened prior to that date, perhaps Yinpiao Zhou noticed it and was innocently curious. Or perhaps he actually is a spy and his handlers noticed and ordered him to investigate. If not, perhaps some/all of the late-starting webcasts happened because of Zhou's drone flight.

[–] threelonmusketeers 1 points 2 days ago

If any of the late-starting webcasts happened prior to that date

The first one was Starlink 9-13 on 2024-11-24 (PST).