Loud Crashing Noise

On Friday the house shook. It was around 5:30 (5:48, to be exact) and suddenly I heard a loud crashing and/or rattling coming from upstairs. At first, I thought maybe a piece of furniture had fallen over. You know, because furniture randomly does that. But it was a better thought than the alternative – an intruder! The dog barked and turned in circles a couple of times before deciding there was no threat.

I was not so convinced. I went upstairs, hesitantly searching the bedroom. No one in the closet, the bathroom, under the bed. Okay, coast clear in my bedroom. So I shrugged it off and forgot about it, to the point where I didn’t remember to even tell Chris about my momentary panic.

Listening to the radio Monday morning, I finally put two and two together. That “crash” was the sonic boom from the Space Shuttle Atlantis as it passed into the atmosphere over the California coast. Atlantis landed just a short ways north at Edwards Air Force base.