Saturday SpaceX launch could produce sonic booms across Southern California

A SpaceX rocket launch scheduled for Saturday night from Santa Barbara County could produce sonic booms heard through much of Southern California.

The Falcon 9 launch is scheduled to take place around 10:13 p.m. from Vandenberg Space Force Base near Lompoc.

The rocket will ascend into low-orbit and launch a series of satellites for satellite internet provider OneWeb.

About eight minutes after launch, the first stage of the reusable Falcon 9 rocket will attempt to land back at Vandenberg.

During that landing, the rocket will utilize its high-powered boosters to slow its descent to hopefully land softly at its target, SpaceX Landing Zone 4.

Those boosters could create sonic booms as they slow down to below the speed of sound. The sonic booms can often be heard for hundreds of miles, depending on weather conditions, and are most likely to be experienced in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties.

Officials from Vandenberg stress that the likelihood of sonic booms is dependent on weather and other conditions.

If the Saturday launch is scrapped, a backup launch window is scheduled for Sunday beginning at 10:08 p.m.

A live-stream of the event will be provided by SpaceX 15 minutes before launch.

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