We were on the couch watching TV and all of the sudden the windows shook with a loud thump. It sounded like a large bird lost it’s way and came to an abrupt stop against the glass. We looked outside and saw nothing but someone walking by. Well today we found out what it was. It was a sonic boom from the Space Shuttle landing.

Here’s an explanation from  Curtis Krueger of the St. Pete Times:

“Cloudy weather prevented the shuttle from landing at 7:05 p.m. as originally scheduled, so the astronauts flew around Earth one more time. That only takes about 90 minutes when you’re orbiting the planet.

The weather cleared up, and Endeavour descended, this time on a new flight path that crossed over Florida, very near Tampa Bay. Because this flight path brought the shuttle so much closer to us in the Tampa Bay area, the sonic booms were louder.

Like other supersonic aircraft, the nose of the space shuttle compresses air as it streaks through the atmosphere, creating a shock wave that spreads out like waves spreading from the bow of a ship. A similar shock wave spreads out from the tail of the shuttle.

We hear this vibrating air as sound. And last night, many of us heard it twice. The first sonic boom was the sound waves spreading off the nose, and the second boom a half-second later was the waves spreading off the tail. Endeavour is 122 feet long. On a smaller supersonic aircraft, the two waves are so close together it sounds like one boom.”

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