Sonic Boom From Returning SpaceX Capsule Rattles Escambia County
May 31, 2023
A sonic boom heard and felt across Escambia County and surrounding areas Tuesday night was caused a SpaceX Dragon capsule and Ax-2 crew returning to earth. After passing over the area, the capsule successfully slashed down in the Gulf of Mexico off Panama City.
After the boom rattled the area shortly after 10 p.m., Escambia County 911 operators took a large number of calls, and NorthEscambia.com received hundreds of messages from Northwest Florida and South Alabama. Our readers reported what they thought was an explosion.
The capsule was caught in a NorthEscambia.com photo (above) streaking across the sky over Highway 164 west of Highway 29, between McDavid and the Christian Home community.
Pictured above: A SpaceX Dragon capsule streaks across the night sky above Highway 164 between McDavid and the Christian Home community Tuesday night. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge. Photos below courtesy SpaceX.
Comments
27 Responses to “Sonic Boom From Returning SpaceX Capsule Rattles Escambia County”
My son, in Cantonment, took a video of it going over. Had us all trying to figure out what the heck it could be. We ruled out meteor and shooting star. Then, with a little research, he figured out it was SpaceX! Pretty cool!
For the people that don’t like this, find another way to show your obvious jealousy. He’s rich period. But he made himself rich, so get to work. If he wants to fly around in space he earned that right, worry about yourselves.
A little heads up would have been nice.
So the noise ordinance starts at 10pm in Escambia, and 9PM in Santa Rosa. I’m sure they took that into account for the entire SE when they thought this was a good idea. How many fines were they assessed?
The next time Elon decides to play with his toys, he needs to give everyone in the area a “heads up!”
“$15.3 billion in US government subsidies for SpaceX since 2003.”
That money is not subsidies. It’s for services rendered involving the Space Station.
$15.3 billion in US government subsidies for SpaceX since 2003.
And don’t get me started on Tesla’s money grabs.
And he’s doing it way cheaper than the .gov, too
Just a rich kid playing with his toys! Remember the days when it took a major sovereign nation to have enough money to do that? My, how times have changed!
It shook my windows here in Century. I didn’t even think of a sonic boom I just thought a big tree fell close to me. I didn’t think it was an emergency or try to call 911.
I am guessing weather changed the flight at the last go around….
Heard it in Molino and two dogs were wanting out to see
10:03 pm for you civilians… 2203 for the rest of us..
slept thru that one.
Hubby went out in his boxers and galoshes with a shotgun–pretty dang sure the apocalypse had started without him. Thanks for the info!
Seriously, why wasn’t the landing all over the news, like the Space Shuttle’s before it? That scared the bejesus outta me. My pregnant daughter came running over!
I thought the house was sinking into a sinkhole, or somethingclose had exploded!
It was one huge, thunderous bang, then 2 more smaller ones.
I remember the sonic boom from the Shuttle’s. One time, I was leaving the grocery store when it happened. It shook the store windows, and nearly gave 4-5 ppl outside literal heart attacks. One poor elderly woman burst out screaming and crying.
I had a time trying to calm her down.
If Tesla had just let more ppl know, northescambia.com, and the 911 system would not have had thousands of ppl calling to report an explosion. Elon has to do much better than this.
For all of you that grabbed your AR and hit the shelter….. maybe next time.
But hopefully not.
Thank you for letting us know .
We can depend on you for news.
You’re a blessing!!!
I was out alone in the dark trying to find the giant limb that fell on my metal roof, and could find nothing that big. It sounded and felt like it was on the roof. I came back inside and heard on local news that many people had reported a BOOM! I was glad my new roof was okay. I did not know a capsule made a boom entering the atmosphere. Do not see how parachutes slow down something going that fast. Wish we were warned.
Went outside to see what had blown up. Neighbor was in their pasture with a flashlight too. Figured a distant methlab had a work related accident…
I thought it was the boogie man
We thought a large limb had fallen and were wandering around in the dark looking for one.
Thanks for the article. I wondered all night what the heck that was.
I saw the light in the sky and I hear a lot out in the country I didn’t pay it no mind. I didn’t think that looked like a plane lights. But I didn’t call 911 I’m sure those were some interesting calls
We live just up from the fair grounds off Blue Angel Pkwy. It was loud, we thought something had hit the roof. It scared my cat and she ran and hid under the bed.
Good answer. I thought maybe a big tree in my back yard had fallen, lol.
So that’s what i heard last night! Cool!
I heard it here in Bratt fla. I just thought someone was shooting off 2 big boom rounds lol