SpaceX and Axiom Space have identified the waters off Pensacola as a potential location for the Ax-3 mission’s splashdown on Tuesday evening. The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a notice to pilots, restricting airspace for a 9-mile area approximately 30 miles offshore from Pensacola for “space operations” from 5:10 p.m. to 5:40 p.m.
NASA and SpaceX announced on Sunday that the crew of Ax-3 would undock their Dragon spacecraft from the International Space Station at 8:05 a.m. on Tuesday to prepare for re-entry.
The Ax-3 mission, launched in January, marked the first all-European private astronaut mission to the International Space Station from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Initially, the splashdown for the mission was planned off Florida’s east coast, but due to weather conditions in the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico is now being considered a better option.
Axiom Space has previously utilized SpaceX rockets to transport two private astronaut crews to the ISS. When the crew of Ax-2 returned to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico near Panama City, the Dragon capsule’s passage overhead caused a sonic boom, which many Pensacola residents heard. However, with the splashdown of Ax-3 set off the coast of Pensacola, the likelihood of hearing any kind of sonic boom in Pensacola is minimal. Nonetheless, areas to the northwest of Pensacola in Alabama and Mississippi may still hear a sonic boom.
