How spaceships have transformed California ghost town known as the 'armpit of the central coast' into a booming tourist hotspot

A sleepy California town that was left devastated by the notorious Challenger disaster is experiencing a remarkable comeback thanks to Elon Musk's SpaceX.

The little-known town of Lompoc is around an hour from Santa Barbara and has been dubbed by some as the armpit of the Golden State's Central Coast. 

It was once poised to the federal government's West Coast space operations base and a booming tourist hotspot. 

But these plans collapsed in the wake of the harrowing January 1986 event that left seven astronauts dead, leading to a long recession.  

Now, nearly four decades on, locals claim the town of around 43,000 residents has been revitalized after organizations such as SpaceX began using its abandoned Vandenberg Air Force Base, SFGate reported.

And as visitors flock to catch a glimpse of a rocket launch, nearby hotels and restaurants are starting to benefit from a booming trade. 

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'The history of the town was changed greatly by the Challenger,' Michael Sosa, a manager of local hotel the Inn at Highway 1, told SFGate.

'Lompoc was ready for a big boom and it probably set us back a good 25 years.' 

But business has been starting to increase in recent years, he added.

As launches signed off on by both SpaceX and the United States Space Force became more frequent, Sosa has also noticed a change in who is visiting the town.

Once dominated by engineers and scientists working at the base, he is now seeing rooms reserved by regular families who want to know the best spot in town to watch a launch, he explained.

The base, which was renamed the Vandenberg Space Force Base in 2021, hosted 37 launches in 2023 - the overwhelming majority of them conducted by SpaceX. 

Last year, the Musk-led organization actually breached an agreement with the California Coastal Commission that limited the number of rocket launches to six, sending 28 up into space instead. 

The Hawthorne-headquartered company is now set to do 36 this year, with this number set to increase to 90 by 2026 thanks to a new agreement with local officials.

'With the last couple years, with the domination of SpaceX in the realm, you do see the uptick,' said Gilda Aiello, president of Explore Lompoc, a group tasked with keeping tabs on tourism in the area.      

'People stay in town, they eat, they pump gas, they shop at local stores,' she said of the crowds SpaceX launches draw.

An increase, she said, 'would be a positive impact on all impacts of Lompoc.

'In the '80s, you saw the influx of hotels spouting up,' the lifetime local who is also Sosa's sister remembered.

'The expectation was that this whole area was going to change - and then the tragedy happened and it was almost like a ghost town.'

She likened what is occurring now to what should have happened then, when the town was gearing up to be a hub.

In the decades that followed, the resident recalled how there had been between six and 10 launches a year, as the US slowly got back into space travel.

Now, she said, it feels as if there is a launch every week - with more on the horizon. 

Just last week, the Commission granted approval for the government-owned base to increase SpaceX launches to 36, as the US Space Force looks to piggyback on Musk's ventures and improve its own ability to send rockets into space.

SpaceX's ability to launch has also been viewed as a simultaneous benefit to the US military, which has launched an overall 96 rockets last year from Vandenberg and three other facilities. 

Among them is Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, where the Challenger broke apart in midair minutes after takeoff more than 38 years ago.

The incident left seven astronauts dead, and was televised on national television for all to see.

Scars from such an event are sure to always remain, but the recent resurgence seen in Lompoc shows how some are healing.

The town's hotels, eateries, and other businesses are among those reaping the benefits of this mood change, along with space-minded scientists.

Enthusiasts like Bradley Wilkinson, who also lives in Lompoc, are also pleased, with the construction worker telling SFGate how he became enraptured with the renewed launches in 2017.

He's since made tracking the burgeoning space industry in the town his mission.

He said he has watched almost every one since - and even started a Facebook page to help those outside the area plan visits.

'My wife calls me their leader,' he joked of his mass following on Vandenberg Rocket Launches, which today boasts more than 146,000 members.

'I'm estimating on a beautiful weekend day launch we get about 10,000 people,' he told SFGate, as crowds continue to grow.

The Facebook page is filled with videos of launches that regularly leave onlookers in awe, and serves as a focal point where those in the industry and those outside it can converse and find out when the liftoffs will actually happen.

It has also offered Wilkinson connections with a few people who physically work at the base, meaning he often gets first dibs on valuable information.

'I want this whole county to get behind this,' he said, mentioning how Teslas are usually among the fleet of cars the launches regularly draw.

'Without tourism, we're going to die. This town is going to become worse than it already is,' he said.

He now hopes to bring space-themed education and entertainment to the town.

Local eatery owners such as Ryne Holloway are also singing SpaceX's praises, telling SFGate how it has brought him a new source of customers.

'They always said armpit of the Central Coast,' the owner of La Botte Italian Restaurant, a 40-year-old eatery on Highway 1, told the outlet.

'Now everyone wants to be here.'

The restaurateur went on to recall how he has met visitors from as far away as Japan, as well as the engineers and scientists who arrive to oversee the launches.

'They feel like celebrities. Even the guy that paints the rocket,' he said.

The road where his restaurant is based is considered Lompoc's main artery - and the owner claims it is now unrecognizable compared to 13 years ago. 

The first SpaceX launch at Vandenberg was back in 2011, when the Falcon Heavy, then touted as the most powerful vehicle in the world, lifted off with about four million pounds of thrust and the ability to carry more than 53 Metric tons.

At the time, Musk, founder, chief executive officer and chief technology officer of SpaceX, and then Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, predicted a new age of space exploration.

'Lompoc has had a very long relationship with the space industry and this is just the next chapter,' said then-Mayor of Lompoc John Linn at the time. 'We look forward to helping (SpaceX).'

The promise has since been upkept, statements from the Vandenberg Space Force Base show - with nearly 60 launches set for this year.

A large percentage of them will come from privately owned companies like SpaceX, which recently called on officials to approve an increase to 'more than 120 [launches] a year by 2026,' according to a recent report from the LA Times.

Just a few days ago, the firm started by Musk in 2002 launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg to successfully put 23 Starlink satellites into orbit, hours before another SpaceX launch toward the International Space Station from Florida.     

'It's cool for people to come from out of town and meet people who are part of this big dynamic thing like a rocket launch,' Holloway told SFGate.

He said it is showing people a different side of Lompoc.

However, some people are airing concerns - including scientists worried about the surrounding environment.

The disquiet stems from sonic booms that could affect the thousands of harbor seals, sea otters, red-legged frogs, and fish that reside in the area, scientists said.

Among those critics was Duncan Leitch, a professor of integrative biology at UCLA.

Speaking to the LA times, he warned of the long-term dangers that more launches could create. 

'Over a longer period of time, there may be reductions in the population of fish as they move away from the sound, or they may be affected to the point that it affects their health,' he said. 

'It would change the ecosystem as far as other animals that rely on the fish.

He explained: 'Having sounds that are well into the damaging, or painful, range of decibels now occurring [100] times a year, the animals might not have the ability to change their behavior or accommodate these types of sounds.'

Amid such worries, some environmental groups are asking the commission to reconsider SpaceX's rising allowance of launches, with local marine life the main sticking point. 

'We're concerned that more frequent launches will result in permanent changes,' said Ana Citrin, legal and policy director for the Gaviota Coast Conservancy.

SpaceX 'intends to begin increasing very rapidly, so we're very concerned about this,' added Mandy Sackett, senior California policy coordinator for fellow environment group the Surfrider Foundation.

Other concerns about the private benefit SpaceX is seeing from such launches have been raised as well, with some 75 percent of its liftoffs not involving the US government.

The other 25 percent, US Space Force officials said in May, are carrying materials for the military. 

'That is still pretty skewed for me,' California Coastal Commissioner Mike Wilson said at a meeting in May, before eventually signing off on the increases. 

'I question the national security public benefit of concentrating that much power, literally communication power, in one company that we're enabling in this case.'

Referencing how Musk has refused to allow Ukraine to use satellite internet service from his Starlink craft to help it carry out an attack against Russia in 2022, Wilson added: '[SpaceX] has already showed that it will play in international conflicts at the will of one human being.'

'If the idea is that we're supporting these permits on the side that we're promoting national defense, and then a single company is able to dismantle our allies during armed conflict - that really doesn't align,' Commissioner Justin Cummings added during the conversation.

'I suspect that would violate our strategies around national defense.'

That said, the group has since signed off on the growing partnership between SpaceX, which is considered a government contractor, and US officials.

As of writing, it remains unclear what measures will be taken to address the commission's concerns about the local environment, as meetings between the bodies remain ongoing.

Neither SpaceX nor the Space Force immediately responded to a request for comment.

For now, though, the launches are unlikely to slow, and at times can be seen as far away as LA.

'I always stay up for it, even if it's like 3 o'clock in the morning,' Tim Vu, a resident of Orange County, told SFGate.

'I think it’s getting more popular across the board,' he said - revealing how he sometimes takes the more than 100 mile trip to get a closer view.

'Even people who aren’t a fan of Elon Musk will stop, look up and think, whoa, that’s cool,' he added.