Watch SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket generate sonic boom during landing (video)

News
By
published

The tracking footage shows the booster's return to Earth in great detail.

Rocket landings never get old, as a new video shows.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched Northrop Grumman's Cygnus cargo craft toward the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday (Aug. 4). The rocket's first stage then returned to Earth for a safe landing, which the 37-second video chronicles in great detail, both visual and auditory.

"Tracking footage of Falcon 9's first stage booster landing and sonic boom," SpaceX wrote in a description of the video, which it posted to X on Monday (Aug. 5).

The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon rocket comes back to Earth after launching a Cygnus cargo spacecraft to orbit on Aug. 4, 2024. (Image credit: SpaceX)

Sonic booms are common occurrences during Falcon 9 first-stage reentries. The sound comes as the boosters decelerate, crossing the sound barrier in the high-to-low-speed direction.

Sunday's mission was the 10th for this particular Falcon 9 first stage, according to SpaceX. That's an impressive reuse tally but far from the company record, which stands at a whopping 22. Overall, SpaceX has landed boosters more than 300 times during Falcon 9 missions.

RELATED STORIES:

—  Watch a SpaceX rocket generate 2 sonic booms and land in this amazing video

 — SpaceX launches private Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the ISS (video)

 —  SpaceX lands Falcon 9 rocket for 300th time (video)

The Cygnus carried more than 4 tons of food, scientific experiments and other supplies to the ISS on its current mission, which is called NG-21. (It's the 21st trip to the orbiting lab for a Cygnus.)

Unlike the Falcon 9 or SpaceX's Dragon capsule, the Cygnus is designed for one-time use. The freighter will burn up in Earth's atmosphere after it departs from the ISS in January 2025.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Mike Wall
Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

32 Comments Comment from the forums
  • ZZTOP
    Admin said:
    A SpaceX video shows a Falcon 9 first stage's post-launch return to Earth in great detail, even capturing the sonic boom generated during the descent.

    Watch SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket generate sonic boom during landing (video) : Read more
    How does a controlled landing exceed the speed of sound?
    Reply
  • masseydvt
    Are you sure those are sonic booms? The returning Stage 1 booster goes transonic about 6 km above the Earth's surface, about 45 seconds before landing. It REALLY seems like you're hearing the rocket re-ignitions here.
    Reply
  • ZZTOP
    masseydvt said:
    Are you sure those are sonic booms? The returning Stage 1 booster goes transonic about 6 km above the Earth's surface, about 45 seconds before landing. It REALLY seems like you're hearing the rocket re-ignitions here.
    A sonic boom is accompanied by a vapor cone, nothing lands that fast
    Reply
  • TheCoolBrit
    I was close to a dual Falcon Heavy boosters landing at LZ1 and LZ2, each booster gave off a triple sonic boom before each one slowed to a full landing. Spectacular.
    Reply
  • ZZTOP
    TheCoolBrit said:
    I was close to a dual Falcon Heavy boosters landing at LZ1 and LZ2, each booster gave off a triple sonic boom before each one slowed to a full landing. Spectacular.
    Not everything loud is a sonic boom, can you please post a video of an aircraft creating a sonic boom when decelerating from supersonic?
    Reply
  • Fire-Starter James
    Really? Sonic booms are created by "breaking the sound barrier"? When did we chronoport back to 1950? I'm pretty sure that concept died in that decade.

    Back when supersonic aircraft were allowed over land, it was obvious to all that the boom was not caused by "breaking a barrier". It's a fully ridiculous concept.
    Reply
  • TheCoolBrit
    ZZTOP said:
    Not everything loud is a sonic boom, can you please post a video of an aircraft creating a sonic boom when decelerating from supersonic?
    I tried posting a link but it said it was spam of hearing the sonic booms made by the booster rockets landing please google sites exosnews Falcon Heavy launch blog.
    I heard a double sonic boom as a Space Shuttle glide land at Edwards air force base. no video but you may find a Youtube of similar events.
    I guess you need to search Youtube for aircraft, I only heard one aircraft sonic boom at an air show once in the UK that was 60 years ago so no video sadly.
    Reply
  • sciencecompliance
    Sonic booms do not happen from "crossing" the sound barrier. Sonic booms are a phenomenon that is continuously generated by objects moving faster than the speed of sound. You hear the "boom" when the shockwave passes your position.
    Reply
  • TheCoolBrit
    sciencecompliance said:
    Sonic booms do not happen from "crossing" the sound barrier. Sonic booms are a phenomenon that is continuously generated by objects moving faster than the speed of sound. You hear the "boom" when the shockwave passes your position.
    Agreed, depending on the distance you are can make a difference to the number of shockwaves you hear, most hear just 2 normally from the leading and trailing edges pressure changes of the aircraft or rocket. but there can be more depending on the aerodynamic shape, over distances these can combine, as in a Falcon 9 booster landing you have to be close by to hear 3. you hear two very close together then a slightly longer gap to the 3rd.
    Reply
  • ZZTOP
    TheCoolBrit said:
    I tried posting a link but it said it was spam of hearing the sonic booms made by the booster rockets landing please google sites exosnews Falcon Heavy launch blog.
    I heard a double sonic boom as a Space Shuttle glide land at Edwards air force base. no video but you may find a Youtube of similar events.
    I guess you need to search Youtube for aircraft, I only heard one aircraft sonic boom at an air show once in the UK that was 60 years ago so no video sadly.
    You miss the point deceleration from transonic to subsonic creates no sonic boom, this is why there are no videos. So landing rockets produce no sonic boom. If I am wrong you or someone else can produce a video
    Reply