Sonic Boom, Not Earthquake - SPACESHIP!

Posted on 05/24/2025

Many calls and social media postings asking if we just had an earthquake.

SpaceX announced that its spacecraft, Dragon, reentered Earth’s atmosphere and “splashed down” off the southern coast near Oceanside around 10:44 p.m. on Saturday, May 24th.

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“Dragon will also announce its arrival with a brief sonic boom prior to splashing down in the Pacific Ocean,” stated SpaceX. The Dragon is “the only spacecraft currently flying that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth, and is the first private spacecraft to take humans to the space station.”

NASA explained that the unpiloted Dragon spacecraft was launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket that took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 21.

Then, on Friday, May 23, ground controllers at SpaceX commanded the Dragon spacecraft to undock from the port of the station’s Harmony module to begin its return to Earth.

SpaceX confirmed Dragon’s “splashdown” in a 10:46 p.m. X post, saying it completed the company’s SpaceX’s 32nd Commercial Resupply Services mission to the Space Station.

Landing on April 22, it delivered about 6,700 pounds of crew supplies, science investigations and equipment to the International Space Station, NASA reported.

A sonic boom, likely caused by the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft returning to Earth, was heard across Southern California, including Los Angeles. The SpaceX Dragon splashed down in the Pacific Ocean near Oceanside, causing a brief sonic boom. The boom was so strong that some residents in the Los Angeles area reported feeling an earthquake, but the USGS confirmed no earthquake occurred.

Elaboration:

SpaceX Dragon Return:

The event was a result of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, which had been attached to the International Space Station, returning to Earth after a successful cargo mission.
Sonic Boom:

As the Dragon entered the atmosphere and began to slow down, it created a sonic boom, a sudden loud noise caused by an object traveling faster than the speed of sound.
Wide Impact:

The sonic boom was reported across a wide area, from Santa Barbara to Long Beach, even though it was most intense near the coast.
Earthquake Confusion:

The loud noise caused some people to initially mistake the boom for an earthquake, leading to multiple reports to the USGS.
No Earthquakes:

The USGS confirmed that no earthquake occurred and that the event was a sonic boom.