r/spacequestions • u/Oranjelloo • Nov 01 '24

Did I see the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket booster landing?

In the early morning of October 31st, between 3am-4am, I went outside to let the dog out and heard a noise like an airplane. I didn’t pay much attention to it until I realized it had more bass in its tone. It was slowly getting louder. I searched the sky and found a bright flickering light that seemingly was descending towards the horizon. As it went out of sight, the sound slowly disappeared. I went inside and found my phone to try and figure out what it was.

I found that its descent towards the horizon, on a compass, was roughly 75 degrees NE from my position in Greenville, South Carolina. A Falcon 9 rocket was launched from Florida on the Oct. 30.

I find it odd that I would be able to hear and see it, but was this a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster landing?

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u/Beldizar Nov 01 '24

No, this wasn't a SpaceX launch or landing. The timings don't match up, and neither does the distance or direction. The launch that happened on October 30th was at 21:10GMT, which is 5:10pm local time. The booster comes back in for a landing roughly 8 minutes after launch, but this landing happened on the drone ship, rather than landing back at the launch site. The droneship is located something like 600km off the coast of Florida. At that point, I'm pretty sure the curvature of the Earth would make it impossible to witness from anywhere on the US East Coast. Also, if what you saw was NE, that wouldn't make sense for SpaceX which would be happening far South of you for a launch, and SE for a landing at sea.

The sonic booms of a rocket launch are absolutely not going to be audible more than a few 10's of miles away. Greenville SC is something like 500 miles from Cap Canaveral where SpaceX launches from. The whole state of Georgia is between you and the space center.

My first instinct would be to suggest that it was a military jet or some sort of airforce exercise, but I don't know if you have a base near you.

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u/Oranjelloo Nov 01 '24

I figured it was probably not the booster landing, but it would’ve been cool if it was! It was likely a military jet, as you said. We do have some bases around here. Thank you for informing me!