In its last launch of the year, on Friday, December 22, SpaceX successfully sent a communications satellite into orbit and created a stir on social media.
The Falcon 9 rocket and its cargo of the Iridium-4 became visible across parts of California, Nevada, and Arizona shortly after blasting off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Elon Musk responded to the uproar, which saw the hashtag #aliens trending briefly on Twitter in Los Angeles, by tweeting “Nuclear alien UFO from North Korea,” with a video of the launch. Credit: YouTube/Robert Keller via Storyful
