Results tagged “sonicboom”

Just like every time a space shuttle lands at Edwards Air Force Base, the Los Angeles area is rocked by twin sonic booms. And every time, you can perk your ears up and listen to neighbors outside ask if it was an earthquake or big crash on the street. Luckily, the Los Angeles Fire Department, who faithfully warned the public through Twitter, reports no 911 calls, but someone did flag out an LAFD unit on the street to investigate. A search for the word "explosion" on Twitter still reveals many people who did not know what was going on, prompting the LAFDtalk account to sigh: "It's clear not everyone follows @LAFD." If you're a Twitter user, it's a really good idea to follow them (here's a good example illustrating why). Many others tweeted 9/11 references, which echoed this morning's alarming and freaky Coast Guard drill in Washington DC. "Hey @NASA, how about a lot more warning before sending the Shuttle and it's sonic boom over a large metropolitan area on Sept 11th?" huffed Dana Brunetti. @NASA unfortunately didn't tweet a warning and that's why we follow @LAFD.

Cancel that Sonic Boom heads-up warning for today: NASA has announced that they will not be landing the space shuttle Atlantis here in Southern California at Edwards Air Force Base. The local landing was decided upon when weather conditions in Florida were determined to be less favorable than here, but ultimately the shuttle won't be landing anywhere today, period. NASA is holding off the landing until tomorrow, and prefers Florida's Kennedy Space Center, but "there’s still a chance Atlantis will go to Edwards. If thunderstorms linger in Florida Sunday, the shuttle will likely be diverted to Southern California," which means we just might "hear the orbiter’s twin sonic boom shortly before the spacecraft lands," after all, explains the OC Register.

10 days after bad weather in Florida forced Space Shuttle Endeavour to land at Edwards Air Force Base northeast of Los Angeles, it took off this morning atop a modified 747 carrier on its first leg back to Kennedy Space Center. The cross-country trip costs $1.8 million.

Once we heard (and felt) the twin sonic booms at 1:20 on the dot, hundreds of people went to Twitter to share their experience. Pet cats freaked out and hid, earthquake concerns worried some, car alarms went off and others enjoyed the short shaking as they welcomed back Space Shuttle Endeavour. Here's some of what was said:

As mentioned yesterday, there was a possibility that Space Shuttle Endeavour would land at Edwards Air Force Base, which is about 60 miles northeast of Los Angeles (as a bird flies), instead of Florida due to bad weather. The Los Angeles Fire Department warns that you should anticipate twin 'sonic booms' between at 1:20-1:25 p.m. today. And Sciencedude Gary Robbins reports that "Edwards officials said this morning that Endeavour will enter the West Coast above the Oxnard area, or much further south than the earlier plan to have the shuttle glide in over greater Santa Barbara." To see the flight landing path, click here.

Earlier this month, a mysterious fireball flew over the Los Angeles region. And now today, an e-mail tipster sends this to our inbox: "There was some sonic boom noise in Santa Monica, and all my neighbors reported hearing it, but nobody could figure out what this was. Have you heard of it? My coworker swears she saw a 'low flying shooting star that exploded over the ocean.'" Santa Monica Police report no calls about anything as such. Anyone else hear or see anything? Comment below.

It’s midnight, and while I write a monotonous series of buzzes and feedback loops razes through my living room. The cats are wide-eyed and alarmed.

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