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

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.

admin

Share
Published by
admin

Recent Posts

Why aren’t today’s semiconductors good enough for AI?

The smaller the manufacturing standards by which a chip is made, the higher its density…

1 day ago

Asus Launches Gold ROG Astral RTX 5090 Dhahab Edition Graphics Card — Price Reaches $10,600

Earlier this year, at Nvidia's GTC 2025 conference, Asus showed off what is probably the…

1 day ago

Legendary Quake Inducted into World Video Game Hall of Fame Along with Pet Simulator Tamogotchi

The International Center for Video Game History at The Strong Museum in New York has…

1 day ago

MSI Releases New Version of Claw 8 AI+ Gaming Console — White Case and Up to 2TB Storage for $999

At the end of last year, MSI introduced the Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7…

1 day ago

Apple to Go Beyond in 2027 with Robot, Smart Glasses, and Foldable iPhone Plans

2027 could be one of the most significant years for Apple. The company plans to…

1 day ago

FTC’s ‘One-Click Unsubscribe’ Rule Delayed Again, But Not for Long

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has delayed a rule that would require companies to…

2 days ago