How will Artemis II astronauts return to Earth?
The Orion spacecraft will drop to an altitude of more than 120,000 meters within 13 minutes, arriving at a special “splash” site off the coast of California.
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As the Orion capsule traverses the atmosphere on its return to Earth on April 10, a sonic boom will mark the end of the record-setting Artemis II spaceflight, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported.
The USGS wrote in a post to
The boom may be heard across Southern California as four astronauts complete a 10-day voyage to orbit the moon, traveling farther into space than anyone in history, according to the USGS.
The spacecraft is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California shortly after 8 p.m. Eastern Time (5 p.m. Pacific Time), NASA said.
What is a sonic boom?
According to the U.S. Air Force, sonic booms are caused by objects moving faster than sound (about 750 miles per hour at sea level).
The noise often resembles thunder.
According to the federal agency, “An aircraft flying through the atmosphere continuously generates pressure waves similar to the water waves caused by the bow of a ship.” “When the aircraft exceeds the speed of sound, these pressure waves combine to form a shock wave that travels forward from the point of origin or ‘point of release.'”
The USGS is asking anyone who hears a sonic boom to report it here or visit https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/tellus.
Natalie Neisa Alland is a senior reporter at USA TODAY. Contact her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her at X @nataliealund.
