The video shows SpaceX's Starlink mission, not a Chinese ICBM

After China fired an intercontinental ballistic missile in September 2024, footage of a missile emitting dramatic clouds surfaced in social media posts, falsely claiming it depicted China's Dongfeng-31 AG missile. But the video – which has been viewed tens of thousands of times – has been circulating online since at least June 2024. The original uploader told AFP that the clip shows the launch of a SpaceX mission in California.

“Dongfeng-31 AG flies over Hawaii. The US couldn't even intercept it if they wanted to,” reads the simplified Chinese caption of a TikTok video shared on September 28, 2024.

The same footage was shared repeatedly and viewed tens of thousands of times on TikTok and its Chinese version Douyin.

The posts spread just days after China fired its intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the Pacific Ocean on September 25, 2024. It said the mission was “legitimate and routine” and stressed that its nuclear posture remained defensive after the rare test sparked an outcry from countries in the region (archived link).

Beijing said the missile carried a dummy warhead. It was the first such test in four decades.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army Intelligence and Communications Center released photos from the launch on September 26, 2024 (archived link).

Analysts said the images suggested the launch could be a Dongfeng-31 AG intercontinental ballistic missile, unveiled during a military parade in 2017.

However, the circulating video predates China's rocket launch by at least three months.

SpaceX Starlink mission

A reverse image search followed by keyword searches resulted in the same video uploaded to social media platform X on June 24, 2024 (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison of the images from the mistakenly shared video (left) and the original video uploaded to X (right):

According to X user Tony LiVigni's post, it shows the launch of SpaceX's Falcon 9 from the Vandenberg Space Force Station in California.

LiVigni told AFP he shot the footage of the rocket on June 23, 2024 in Los Angeles.

“The object circled and referred to in the TikTok post is the Falcon 9 first stage booster firing its cold gas engines to orient itself properly before performing an entry burn for a return landing on the Drone ship triggers,” he said in a direct message on Facebook on October 18, 2024.

LiVigni has posted SpaceX footage on social media in the past, including here and here (archived links here and here).

He is also an administrator of Vandenberg Launch Enthusiasts, a community on X (archived link).

According to SpaceX (archived link), the Falcon 9 rocket sent 20 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit on June 23.

AFP photographer Patrick T. Fallon captured a similar photo of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket over Lawndale, California, on June 18, 2024.