Many Twitter users puzzled by space shuttle sonic boom

For many in Los Angeles, yesterday afternoon started out like any other Sunday: chores around the house, football on the living room TV, then -- BOOM!

What the heck was that noise? An explosion? A terrorist attack? Hmm, where might one go for time-sensitive information of a local nature?

Why, Twitter, of course!

"I just heard some sort of explosion," Grey Munford wrote on his Twitter page. "Anybody else in 90048 hear that?"

Numerous L.A.-based Twitter users broadcast their befuddlement about the big rumble minutes and, in some cases, hours after the reverberation. The racket was, of course, sonic booms resulting from the Endeavour space shuttle landing at Edwards Air Force Base.

The event was covered by CNN, the L.A. Times and numerous other major media outlets, yet Twitter was a go-to news source for some. "I just realized that the weird explosion-y noise I heard earlier was a sonic boom from the space shuttle's return ... cool," Brigitte Dale wrote on Twitter.

"I'm late to the space shuttle sonic boom party," wrote Twitter user Pluimer. "That dude was loud and powerful. I looked around expecting to see an explosion somewhere."

Does the general unawareness about the Endeavour landing correlate with a lack of warning in mainstream news or a lack of knowledge about (or interest in) NASA? Launch your opinions in the comments.

-- Mark Milian

Photo: Endeavour space shuttle landing. Credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Brian Humphrey]

Mark,

It was indeed intriguing to watch our Twitter search feed for the phrase 'Sonic Boom' in the minutes following Endeavour's (NASA uses the 'British' spelling) return.

Anticipating this, we sent a Twitter message:

http://twitter.com/LAFD/status/1031033241

...a little more than 2 hours *prior* to the orbiter's arrival. Though several people ultimately called 9-1-1 asking about the 'explosion', we feel the time and advance effort on Twitter paid off immensely in not only limiting false alarms, but in putting residents minds at ease.

We're deeply pleased with the LAFD Twitter and LAFD_ALERT elements of our LAFD Everywhere initiative, and their ability to notify local residents of nice to know information.

Please keep up the great work on the Tech Blog.

Respectfully Yours in Safety and Service,

Brian Humphrey
Firefighter/Specialist
Public Service Officer
Los Angeles Fire Department

[Dustin]

Fun that you picked up this story... I didn't get the LAFD update in time and tweeted that I thought the noise was from my son! http://twitter.com/tyr/status/1031229052 :)

[B. A. Hilton]

I'm thrilled that this story came up second from the top in my search for info about the boom. My family had no advance warning of the shuttle being redirected to Edwards, perhaps because we all "unwire" on Sundays (a nod to my being raised next to the Pennsylvania Amish?!). But we heard nothing of it on Saturday, either. I was sure it was an explosion when I heard it, but didn't immediately think "bomb." Having recently moved back to LA, I didn't know of the LAFD Twitter initiative. What a brilliant use of new technology...kudos to you both, Mark and Brian, info like this will keep this Mom wired...even on Sundays.

[Andrew Nystrom, Sr. Producer LA Times Travel + Social Media]

@Brian, thank you for your comment and advance Twitter warning updates.

As of this week, we are actively updating several of our 20+ LAT Twitter streams, including http://www.twitter.com/latimes (our main account).

Watch for more human-powered updates (as opposed to RSS feeds) on http://www.twitter.com/la_now in the coming weeks. We're adding an inventory of all active feeds and streams at http://www.latimes.com/twitter.

We're also actively following @LAFD and will re-tweet future status updates like the one you highlight in your comment.

- Andrew, embedded in the main LAT newsroom

[Allen Harthorn]

Does anyone know when the shuttle will be leaving Edwards for the flight back to Texas?