DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Central Floridians across social media said they heard a sonic boom Friday morning as the crew of Ax-3 plummeted back to Earth.
The posts, referencing a time around 8:30 a.m., talk of the especially strong sound rattling the area.
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The Ax-3 crew safely parachuted into the Atlantic Ocean around that time, floating down off the Space Coast near Daytona Beach after a 47-hour trip from the International Space Station.
A sonic boom is a loud booming noise caused by shock waves created by any object that travels through the air faster than the speed of sound.
It wouldn’t be the first time an Axiom Space mission was responsible for a Central Florida sonic boom, though. In May 2023, the sonic report of a returning booster was heard after it was used to launch Ax-2, landing at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
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Ax-3 took off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center on Jan. 18, its crew consisting of Walter Villadei, of Italy, as pilot; Michael López-Alegría, of Spain, as commander; and mission specialists Marcus Wandt, of Sweden, and Alper Gezeravcı, of Turkey.
Axiom Space billed it as the first all-European lineup to launch to the space station, where they conducted various research experiments.
If you heard the boom, let us know in comments below.
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