![]() ![]() Returning space shuttles would break through the sound barrier during their approach to Kennedy Space Center's former Shuttle Landing Facility, generating booms that could be heard as far away as Florida's west coast. Though loud enough to rattle windows and startle spectators, studies – including some authored by NASA and Air Force researchers – have shown sonic booms are not dangerous.īooms used to be much more common on the Space Coast. Though some spectators close to the landing pad might be able to make out two or even all three booms, most will only hear one large rumble by the time it reaches their location. "But what residents experience will depend on weather and other conditions."įrom bottom to top, Falcon 9 generates three sonic booms during its descent: first, the Merlin main engines, then the black landing legs, and finally, the titanium grid finds used to steer the rocket. Lucie and Okeechobee counties may hear one or more sonic booms during the landing," SpaceX said in a warning statement Monday. "There is a possibility that residents of Brevard, Orange, Osceola, Indian River, Seminole, Volusia, Polk, St. Falcon 9's booms aren't heard during ascent due to its altitude, but its landing booms are generated just over the Cape as it fires its Merlin engines to slow down. Sonic booms are generated when an aircraft or rocket approaches the speed-of-sound barrier during acceleration or deceleration. That mission took a classified National Reconnaissance Office payload to low-Earth orbit. It's been a while since residents and spectators were startled by sonic booms – the last time a Falcon 9 booster returned to the Cape for a local landing was in December. Though it will have flown to an altitude hundreds of thousands of feet above Earth's surface, the booster will touch down just 5 1/2 miles from where it started. ![]() ![]() liftoff from Launch Complex 40, the rocket's 162-foot booster will separate from the payload-hauling second stage, flip around, and begin an autonomous descent toward nearby Landing Zone 1. View Gallery: Photos: SpaceX launches Transporter-1 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force StationĪ rarely heard cannonade of sonic booms will reverberate across the Space Coast on Tuesday, the result of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch and subsequent landing at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.Īfter a 2:56 p.m. ![]()
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