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Residents of southern California were treated to a pair of sonic booms as the U.S. space shuttle Endeavour passed overhead yesterday en route to its safe landing at Edwards Air Force Base.

Bad weather had forced the crew to divert its destination from Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Edwards. The Associated Press reports it will cost about $1.8 million to bring the shuttle back to Florida on of the back of a modified jumbo jet.  

"The sonic boom sounded like a nearby explosion, very low and deep. It reminded me of a thunderclap, but shorter and with a softer timbre," screenwriter John Aboud of South Pasadena told ScientificAmerican.com in an e-mail.
 
"I was in an ice cream shop at the time [near his home]. The windows rattled so much, I thought we were having a small earthquake at first. A man sitting at one of the outdoor tables leapt out of his chair and grabbed hold of his lady friend. He was either genuinely frightened or seizing the opportunity to advance a romantic agenda."

The Endeavour crew was returning from a 16-day mission to double the International Space Station's (ISS) capacity to accommodate six people beginning in May. The expedition experienced few snafus, including a tool bag lost during a spacewalk (which then visibly streaked across the night sky*) and trouble installing the ISS's new urine recycling system.

*Note: corrected 12/9/08

(Photo courtesy of NASA/Tony Landis)

3 Comments

1. 1. Doug G. 03:11 PM 12/2/08

   Ms. Locke,
   
   There is an error in your report. The bag lost by the astronaut has not reentered yet, so the statement "streaked across the sky as it reentered" is inaccurate. The fellow who captured the image of the bag just recorded it as it passed overhead. The light was merely reflected sunlight, and not the result of the heat of reentry.

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2. 2. Skruball 02:12 AM 12/4/08

   Based on its trajectory and speed It would appear to have re-entered the atmosphere despite what was stated or mis-stated.

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3. 3. Doug G. in reply to Skruball 04:31 AM 12/4/08

   On what do you base that comment? That video tells you nothing of its trajectory or speed. The bag's trajectory is the same trajectory of the ISS, give or take the walking pace it drifted away from the station when dropped (insignificant compared to 17,000 mph orbital speed). It's not very big, so it isn't going to lose speed to drag particularly quickly. ISS stays in orbit with only occasional re-boosts to its orbit. Without the re-boosts, it would take many months for reentry to become a hazard. The same is true for anything tossed overboard, inadvertently or not.
   
   In the referenced video, it streaks through the viewframe because the guy who caught the video was using a telescope of some sort. When you magnify the image, the spot of sky you're looking at become smaller. So if with magnification you're essentially looking at a patch of sky through a soda straw , then of course it's going to whiz through the resulting tiny frame. Trust me, the thing's still up there, at least for a while yet.
   
   I am disappointed that SciAm apparently pays no attention to these comments. I had rather hoped that the author would respond in the interest of making sure her stories were factually accurate.

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