A sonic boom shook parts of Southern California on Saturday night as an unmanned SpaceX Dragon capsule reentered Earth’s atmosphere and landed in the ocean off Oceanside.
The spacecraft was returning from a mission to resupply the International Space Station. It launched from Florida on April 21 carrying 6,700 pounds of supplies and spent 32 days docked at the station.
“Dragon is on track to reenter Earth’s atmosphere and splash down off the southern coast of California near Oceanside at ~10:44 p.m. PT,” SpaceX posted on X.
The Los Angeles Times reported residents from Santa Clarita to West Hollywood heard and felt the sonic boom.
NASA and SpaceX have switched splashdown sites from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean between San Diego and Los Angeles for safety reasons.
SpaceX said Pacific splashdowns will ensure that any surviving pieces of the dragon’s cargo “trunk” — jettisoned near flight’s end — fall safely into the ocean.
