Heard the boom

OBERLIN, Kansas -- Phyllis Beneda and her husband, Val, did hear the sonic boom when the space shuttle passed over the Golden Plains Wednesday, but then, they had some inside information.

Their son-in-law, Don Stratt is a NASA engineer working in Florida, who called them in their Oberlin home.

Although it was overcast and the spacecraft couldn't be seen, "we definitely heard it," Mrs. Beneda told the Gazette. "It was one big boom."

The shuttle carried Nebraska astronaut Clayton Anderson home from his second spaceflight.