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Florida: Explosion, sonic boom heard in Orlando as SpaceX rocket takes off; videos emerge online- ‘unusually loud’

An explosion or a sonic boom-like sound was heard in Orlando and other parts of Florida as a SpaceX rocket was launched on Thursday, July 30.

Updated on: Jul 30, 2026, 13:23:04 IST
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An explosion or a sonic boom-like sound was heard in Orlando and other parts of Florida after a SpaceX rocket was launched there on Thursday, July 30.

A view of the night sky amid sounds of sonic boom in Florida. Image for representational purposes. (Unsplash)
A view of the night sky amid sounds of sonic boom in Florida. Image for representational purposes. (Unsplash)

“Just heard the sonic boom in central Florida!,” one person replied to SpaceX announcing the launch.

A person also added “I heard the boom at about 3:22AM just east of downtown Orlando and it was unusually loud for being so far away from the LZ.”

Several Florida residents reported hearing a ‘loud boom’ as the rocket took off. “Living in Florida is thinking someone is breaking into your house cause of a loud noise and the building shaking but it was actually a rocket launch causing a sonic boom at 3am oh awesome...,” one person remarked.

Another added “Classified satellite launch at 3:00 AM with a Return to Launch Site landing means Florida residents get a mandatory sonic boom alarm clock. Anything for national defense!”.

Yet another said, “just felt the…boom all the way in Palm Bay.” One person also added “TF? Anybody else hear that big boom in Florida?!?!?!”. On Facebook too, people began to express their complaints. One wrote “i assume it’s most likely from sonic boom following successful launch from the Cape which occurred at 3:09 am… although I’ve never heard and felt it no where near that much. Did anyone else have your home shake with a loud boom? *I live close to the Walmart market”.

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Several others shared their experiences in the comment section of the public group. “Pine lake estates here. Shook my house too. I thought my husband opened the garage side door,” one shared. Another added , “Yes, me too! Jones and Narcoossee. It startled me! This is the post I was looking for thank you I thought I was the only one.” Yet another said “it sounded awful; I live in Crossprairie. 3:22am.”

What SpaceX said about ‘loud boom’

Notably, SpaceX had warned of this ‘sonic boom’ a while back. On X, it wrote “All systems are looking good, and weather is 70% favorable for liftoff. Propellant load is about to begin for today's launch of NROL-95 from Florida,” adding, “About eight minutes after liftoff, Falcon 9’s first stage will return to Landing Zone 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, announcing its arrival with a sonic boom.”

 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shuvrajit Das Biswas

Shuvrajit has over seven years of experience covering US, India, and world news. An English Literature postgraduate from Jadavpur University, Shuvrajit started off covering entertainment, gaming and all things pop culture. There were brief periods away from the media industry, with short stints in content marketing, ed-tech and academic editing. However, the newsroom beckoned and over the last few jobs, Shuvrajit has exceedingly focused on team functioning as well, including tracking news and assigning tasks, working on everyday breaking news, framing detailed coverage plans, and creating immersive and data-driven stories. In his time as a digital journalist, he has covered a Lok Sabha election, multiple state elections, Union Budgets and award ceremonies. He has also helped in planning content for company event panels in the past. For work, Shuvrajit enjoys dabbling with data visualization, editing tools, and AI chatbots and attempts to incorporate AI workflows in everyday tasks. He is deeply interested in geopolitics, sports, films and music. Prompting is a new fascination for Shuvrajit now. Apart from that, he can be found doom-scrolling, sharing memes, or cheering on his favorite football team.

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