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March 6th, 2020
Torsten Funke was photographing the Golden Gate Bridge from Battery Spencer in Marin Sunday night when a shocking streak of color flashed across the night sky.
The glowing object was not a UFO, but a Falcon 9 rocket, launched by Elon Musk's SpaceX from the Vandenberg Air Force Base 160 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
The rocket, carrying an Argentine Earth-observation satellite, returned to its launch site Sunday night in what was SpaceX's first such landing in California.
Funke, a German, was visiting Northern California on a business trip when the rocket streaked across his camera's viewfinder.
"The plan was to capture the sunset from [the Battery], but the GPS of my rental car led me the wrong way," Funke told SFGATE by email Tuesday. By the time he got to the top of the battery, just a sliver of sunlight remained. Then the rocket appeared, a moment of photographic serendipity that Funke said was "destiny."
He was not alone in...
