Solar System.
Watching the First Interplanetary Launch from America's West Coast
Jet Propulsion Laboratory https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ April 6, 2018
NASA's InSight will be the first interplanetary launch from America's West Coast. Residents in some of California's coastal communities could get a front row seat. Here's when and where to see it.
Transcript
NASA's InSight will be the first interplanetary launch from America's West Coast.
InSight will launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base on California's central coast.
On May 5, InSight's launch window opens at 4:05 a.m. PDT and remains open for two hours.
The launch period spans May 5 through June 8.
By looking to the west, people in Santa Barbara would see the launch on this trajectory.
From the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles the rocket will become visible from the northwest.
The yellow line tracks the rocket's path.
To a viewer on the ground, the rocket will appear as a bright speck moving quickly across the sky.
Observers from the San Diego Air & Space Museum can also track it from the northwest to the south.