Topline
Singer Charlie Puth complained to billionaire Elon Musk in a Wednesday morning post that noises produced by SpaceX rocket launches in California are getting louder and shaking his house, echoing complaints from residents near launch sites that the increasing number of SpaceX launches are becoming a nuisance.
SpaceX’s rocket launches have prompted some noise complaints. (Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
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Key Facts
Puth tagged Musk in the post, stating the noise produced by sonic booms has “gotten progressively louder since they started launching the rockets in Santa Barbara,” referring to the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County.
“This one at 3am today felt like 150-160 dB, violently shook our whole house, and really frightened my pregnant wife. I hope they do not get louder :/” Puth said in his post.
SpaceX’s website says Starlink satellites were launched at 3:40 a.m. local time on Wednesday from the Falcon 9 rocket at the Vandenberg base into low-Earth orbit.
The website includes a disclaimer that residents of nearby counties, including those in Santa Barbara, “may have heard one or more sonic booms during the launch” depending on weather conditions.
Wednesday’s launch was the fourth SpaceX mission launched from the California base this month, according to SpaceX’s website, with another planned for this weekend.
Musk has not responded to Puth’s post.
Are Spacex Launches Drawing Noise Complaints?
Yes, rocket launches have drawn complaints from residents near launch sites and regulators. The California Coastal Commission, a state agency tasked with preserving the California coastline, urged the U.S. Space Force—which operates the Vandenberg launch site—to track the impact of noise and sonic booms on nearby wildlife. Space Force officials rejected their demands at a meeting in August 2024, claiming it already does enough to monitor the local environment, the Los Angeles Times reported. Conservation groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, American Bird Conservancy and the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, filed a lawsuit in 2023 against the Federal Aviation Administration, accusing it of failing to properly evaluate the environmental impact of noise, heat and debris produced by a SpaceX Starship launch, which ended in explosion. The lawsuit was dismissed in September by a federal judge, who said there was no evidence the FAA did not properly research the launch’s impact on wildlife. 25 News KXXV, a local station in Florida, ran a segment in April that featured residents near a launch site complaining about increased noise from rocket launches. “This past year has really gotten loud, and in fact, the past six months really got loud. Right now, it’s the worst it’s ever been,” one resident said. Kent Gee, a Brigham Young University physicist, told CNN last year sonic booms can sound “like being a few feet away from a gunshot without hearing protection,” adding it may pose a risk to structures, though he said more research is needed.