Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Military shuttle lands with a boom
It’s no secret that a sonic boom rattled Central Florida early Sunday morning. What caused it was a nearly 2-year-old secret military space mission that ended at Kennedy Space Center.
The U.S. Air Force confirmed that its X-37B unmanned mini space shuttle landed at KSC after spending 718 days in orbit. The spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop an Atlas V rocket on May 20, 2015.
What it has been doing circling the planet all this time is the secret part that military officials won’t discuss, though many experts believe it was gathering intelligence. What was confirmed in a news release is that mini shuttle is “an experimental test program to demonstrate technologies for a reliable, reusable, unmanned space test platform for the U.S. Air Force.”
This was the fourth space trip for the 29-foot-long, 11,000-pound mini shuttle, but it was the first time it has landed in Florida — which is why Sunday’s sonic boom provided an unexpected wake-up call.
Hundreds of people took to social media and contacted local media to find out what caused the big boom.
“Shook our house in Davenport and drove the dog into a brief frenzy,” Patrick Reikofski posted on his Twitter account.
Jeff Savage tweeted, “Just heard a loud sonic boom here near Disney World. What was that??!!”
But it wasn’t just Central Floridians who heard the spacecraft. Reports came from as far away as Tampa and Fort Myers.
“Didn't sound from where I live [like] a sonic boom,” said Cherie Doughan, who heard the noise near Cape Haze in Southwest Florida. “Sort of unnerving with things the way they are world wide.”
Sonic booms used to be more common and expected during the 30 years of NASA’s manned space shuttle program, with landings at Kennedy Space Center preceded by a loud double boom. But the last shuttle to land at KSC was Atlantis nearly six years ago when the program completed its final mission in July 2011.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launches from the space coast also produce sonic booms, with the most recent one heard in March.
But the X-37B’s booming return was unexpected. While there were rumors back in February that the mini shuttle might return to Florida after its three previous flights ended at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, officials would not confirm any itinerary for the spacecraft.
Sunday morning’s homecoming was announced by the Air Force at 7:57 a.m. in a tweet: “The Air Force #X37B #OTV4 has returned from orbit and landed safely at @NASAKennedy.”