Did a loud boom startle you or your neighbors’ dogs on Saturday night in Southern California? If so, you’re not alone.
SpaceX announced that its spacecraft, Dragon, reentered Earth’s atmosphere and “splashed down” off the southern coast near Oceanside around 10:44 p.m.
“Dragon will also announce its arrival with a brief sonic boom prior to splashing down in the Pacific Ocean,” stated SpaceX in an X post.
SpaceX’s website said the Dragon is “the only spacecraft currently flying that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth, and is the first private spacecraft to take humans to the space station.”
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule with a crew of four on a mission to the International Space Station is seen during a time exposure as it lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Sunday, March 3, 2024. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Dragon capsule and a crew of four private astronauts, lifts off from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Sunday, May 21, 2023. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
In this April 24, 2021 file photo made available by NASA, the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule approaches the International Space Station for docking. Space junk is threatening the seven astronauts aboard the International Space Station and forcing them to seek shelter in their docked capsules. The U.S. Space Command says it’s tracking a field of orbiting debris, the apparent result of some satellite break-up event. The astronauts retreated into their docked capsules on Monday, Nov. 15, 2021 after being informed of the threat. (NASA via AP, File)
In this frame grab from video broadcast by SpaceX, recovery crews lift and secure the SpaceX Dragon capsule after it splashed down into the Gulf of Mexico, just off the Florida Panhandle, late Tuesday, May 30, 2023. The private flight carrying two Saudi astronauts and other passengers returned to Earth after a nine-day trip to the International Space Station. (SpaceX via AP)
The SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft is seen as it lands with NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina onboard in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Tampa, Fla, Saturday, March 11, 2023. The group are returning after a five-month mission in the International Space Station. (Keegan Barber/NASA via AP)
In this image from video provided by SpaceX, the Dragon capsule carrying four space tourists splashes down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California on Friday, April 4, 2025. (SpaceX via AP)
A report by NASA explained that the unpiloted Dragon spacecraft was launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket that took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 21.
Landing on April 22, it delivered about 6,700 pounds of crew supplies, science investigations and equipment to the International Space Station, NASA reported.
Then, on Friday, ground controllers at SpaceX commanded the Dragon spacecraft to undock from the port of the station’s Harmony module to begin its return to Earth.
SpaceX confirmed Dragon’s “splashdown” in a 10:46 p.m. X post, saying it completed the company’s SpaceX’s 32nd Commercial Resupply Services mission to the Space Station.
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