ATLANTA — Did you hear it? Did you see it? Many Georgians reacted on social media late Thursday evening when a loud boom shook their houses.
That "boom" was the SpaceX Dragon Capsule re-entering the atmosphere, returning from its 23rd resupply mission to the International Space Station.
It happened a little before 11 p.m. Thursday night.
11Alive Community StormTracker Ross Norwood sent in video from near Savannah, Georgia along I-95 of the spacecraft streaking across the sky.
Onboard the Dragon Capsule was research from astronauts living on the International Space Station. Some of the research could help us better understand neurodegenerative diseases, gene expression, and muscle atrophy in space.
The return flight came after a month's stay docked to the International Space Station. The Dragon Spacecraft is capable of carrying both supplies and also passengers to and from Earth's orbit.
As of Oct. 1, there are currently 11 astronauts onboard the International Space Station, including Atlanta native and Georgia Tech graduate Shane Kimbrough.
He and several other Crew-2 team members are scheduled to return to Earth in November. Three new crew members are scheduled to launch October 5th into space to join Kimbrough and colleagues.
Plenty of Georgians heard the huge boom and took to social media to express their amazement. Demarcus from Atlanta shared his video with 11Alive, thinking he'd seen a shooting star:
Those who knew about the SpaceX descent connected the dots.
"SpaceX Dragon capsule re-entered atmosphere over Brunswick with a sonic boom heard all over Georgia! That was so loud!" one user wrote.
SpaceX itself tweeted that people in Florida and Georgia would probably be able to see the descent.
One user responded to SpaceX: "Felt and heard it in Saint Mary's Georgia. Thanks guys, scared the (poop emoji) out of me. Loud boom and rattled my whole house (crying laughter emoji)."