Boom Goes the Endeavor!

So I went to lunch with a friend in Los Angeles yesterday and had quite the memorable omlet. My friend Ellie and I were sitting there enjoying some good conversation and breakfast when all of a sudden we heard the loudest BOOM! My hair blew a little bit back from a gust of air and the windows and the ground shook. Everyone at the little cafe http://www.kingsroadcafe.com/ just sat there in shock. No one said a word for about 10 seconds and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. My first assumption was that it was an earthquake. Never having been through one I have no idea what they feel and sound like. Everyone around us started commenting about the fact that it was NOT and earthquake but a sonic boom. What?!? A sonic boom? What the hell causes a sonic boom? I thought we were re-enacting a scene from Independence Day. My first thought when I saw it happen was, "Oh great, move to the big city and now L.A. gets bombed, great timing Laura."

Everyone around us quickly got on their phones to get to the bottom of what just happened. Slightly shaken, we continued our breakfast and slowly normalized after the big boom. Ellie and I said our goodbyes, and on the way home, I got a text from her that explained the situation. Apparently the space shuttle Endeavor had to make an emergency landing at the Edwards Air Force Base and the boom we heard and felt was the shuttle re-entering the atmosphere. Craziness. Apparently the weather in Florida at Cape Canaveral was stormy, so they decided to re-route the landing here.

Quite the rush of adrenaline for a Sunday afternoon.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/launch/index.html