SpaceX showed the landing of the first stage of Falcon 9 breaking the sound barrier

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ship toward the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday, August 4. The first stage of the rocket then returned to Earth and made a successful landing, which was captured in a 37-second video posted on SpaceX’s social media account X. In the video, you can hear the sonic boom that occurs as the speed decreases while breaking the sound barrier.

Image source: Spacex

«Footage tracking the landing of the Falcon 9 first stage booster and the sonic boom,” SpaceX wrote in a commentary on the video. Sonic booms are a common phenomenon in the atmosphere during the reentry of the Falcon 9’s first stage. The sound occurs when the rocket slows down and crosses the sound barrier.

Tracking footage of Falcon 9’s first stage booster landing and sonic boom pic.twitter.com/HNohw3oCCp

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According to SpaceX, Sunday’s mission was the 10th for this particular Falcon 9 first stage. That’s an impressive reuse rate, but it’s a far cry from the company’s record of as many as 22 successful landings. Overall, SpaceX has now completed more than 300 successful first-stage landings on Falcon 9 missions.

The Cygnus spacecraft has delivered more than 4 tons of food, scientific equipment and other cargo to the ISS on its current mission, called NG-21 (Cygnus’ 21st flight to the orbiting laboratory). Unlike Falcon 9 or SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, Cygnus is designed for single use. It will burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere after it undocks from the ISS in January 2025.