Here’s Why You Heard A Loud Boom Friday Morning In Florida
If you woke up to the sound of a loud boom this morning, you aren’t alone. Floridians across central Florida took to social media to talk about the sonic boom Friday morning to find out what was going on.
SpaceX Axiom Mission 3 unhooked from the International Space Station on Wednesday to begin its 47 hour-free flight back to Earth. The capsule parachuted into the Atlantic this morning off Daytona Beach creating a sonic boom that sent shock waves throughout the state at approximately 8:30 AM.
What is Axiom Mission 3?
Axiom Mission 3 is an all-European astronaut mission sent out to conduct over 30 research experiments on microgravity. This was the third commercial human spaceflight for Axiom Space, but the first team of all European astronauts going to the International Space Station.
The flight crew was made up of Commander Michael López-Alegría (Spain & U.S. Citizen). Pilot Walter Villadei from Italy. Mission Specialist Alper Gezeravci from Türkiye. And, Mission Specialist Marcus Wandt from Sweden.
Why was there a sonic boom Friday morning?
Axiom Mission 3 took off from Kennedy Space Center on Jan. 18 and docked at the International Space Station two days later to begin their research. The crew was initially supposed to make their return to Earth on February 3rd to splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic. Due to bad weather, they were delayed.
The capsule was traveling faster than the speed of sound when re-entering Earth and created a sonic boom. This isn’t the first time Floridians have heard sonic booms and are actually commonly heard throughout central Florida’s space coast. Another sonic boom occurred when the booster from Axiom Mission 2 returned to Cape Canaveral in May 2023.
On Axiom Space’s website, you can watch the return flight home in a 2-hour video. To learn more about Axiom Mission 3, visit their website here.
