Shuttle sonic boom heard from JPL

A bunch of us walked outside the Space Flight Operations Facility here at JPL http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/iged/sfof.html a few minutes ago to watch and listen for the STS117 as it passed the LA area on it's way to landing at Edwards Air Force base. A couple people from the Cassini Team were there, since we work in this historic building, and several folks had their laptops in their arms with the NASA commentary and imagery running. We could see the shuttle on the screen, but could not see ourselves. But we did hear the subtle and very low double sonic booms, and minutes later, the shuttle had successfully landed. In case you were wondering.....why does the space shuttle have a double sonic boom? http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/dec97/874604921.Eg.r.html Jane -- Jane Houston Jones Senior Outreach Specialist, Cassini Program JPL - 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 230-205 Pasadena, CA 91109 818-393-6435 jane.h.jones(a)jpl.nasa.gov Cassini SOC http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm What's Up? http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html