From booming business to rattling homes, major changes are coming to the Central Coast following approval allowing SpaceX to double its rocket launches out of Vandenberg Space Force Base.
“It shakes the house. It scares my dog. He gets very frightened,” said Lompoc resident Judy Lauriell.
While she is signed up to receive launch notifications from the base, Lauriell says she’s not eager to have them increase.
“They're going to be going from 50 or whatever to 100, and that's, that's a lot,” she said.
Under the new decision by the Department of the Air Force, launch activity is expected to increase on base, bringing both excitement and concern to the surrounding community.
“We consider them like part of our neighborhood and strongly support the activities out at the base,” said Dave Jaskolski, proprietor of the Village Inn in Vandenberg Village. “The customers that come here are, they're excited to see launches. It's a win-win for us as a business. I think it's a win-win for the community at large.”
Jaskolski says tourism surges every time there's a lunch, bringing visitors from all over the country.
“We do get people that will call and they ask us, ‘Can you see, can we see the rocket from our location?’ And yes, you can from our property,” he said.
According to the final environmental impact statement, Falcon launches could increase from 50 to up to 100 per year, including the first-ever Falcon Heavy launches and landings at SLC-6.
“I worry about wildlife and specifically, you know, off the coast and things like that,” Lauriell said.
The Federal Aviation Administration is expected to release its own decision. While it has not announced a specific timeline for when that will take place, it could determine when these increased launches begin.
