Gulf Coast Beach Goers Startled by Loud Boom – Here’s What it Was

For many Louisiana residents, the week after Memorial Day is a traditional beach week. Schools in Louisiana generally wrap up classes just before the Memorial Day holiday and many families head east for destinations such as Gulf Shores, Destin, or even Panama City.

If you are visiting along the coast or have friends or family that are there you might ask them if they heard the loud BOOM at about 10 pm last night. Many people in southern Alabama thought the noise was a car crash or something even more sinister.

As you read in that Tweet from John Sharp it was not a car crash that was responsible for the noise, it was SpaceX. The boom that was heard was part of the Axiom Mission 2 Space Capsule landing in the Gulf of Mexico. The capsule was ferrying guests from the International Space Station. Two of those on board were Saudi Arabian astronauts who were returning to Earth on a private flight.

Here's what the capsule looked like as it flashed across the nighttime sky in rural Alabama.

If you're wondering what the "boom" may have sounded like, we can only imagine that it may have sounded very similar to this sonic boom caused by a SpaceX capsule returning to Earth as well.

Meanwhile, for its part, SpaceX did Tweet this message shortly after 10 pm.

I guess we now have one more thing to be watchful of when we visit the beach next time. In addition to sharks, jellyfish, hermit crabs, and overpriced souvenirs, we now need to be mindful of falling spacecraft. At least we have the boom to warn us to look up.