CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – An overnight SpaceX launch from the Space Coast sent a sonic boom rolling across Central Florida early Thursday morning.
The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off just after 3 a.m., carrying a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office on a mission designated NROL-95. Minutes after liftoff, the rocket’s booster returned and landed back at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station — triggering the sonic boom that residents in Orange and Seminole counties reported hearing overnight.
The mission, NROL-95, carried a classified national security payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. The nature of the payload was not disclosed.
The launch marked the seventh flight for the first-stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched KF-01, IMAP, NROL-77, GPS III-9, CRS-34, and one Starlink mission.
When SpaceX launches or lands a rocket booster at Cape Canaveral, residents across Central Florida may hear a sonic boom — a thunderous sound created when an object travels faster than the speed of sound.
Temperature, humidity and wind all affect how far and how loudly those booms travel, meaning Orlando-area residents are more likely to hear them during Florida’s warm, muggy summers than during cooler, drier winter months.
[WATCH: News 6’s Ginger Gadsden hears sonic booms for first time]
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