Monday's big bang

Routine tests at Redstone Arsenal Monday led to an unexpectedly loud explosion heard as far away as Arab and Eva, setting social media abuzz.

Why it matters: Folks in Huntsville are used to hearing booms from the arsenal, but this one was unexpectedly intense, sparking questions from folks who heard it.

What they're saying: Arsenal spokesperson Amelia Hice confirmed to Axios that the noise was not from previously-announced rocket engine testing.

• "It was the result of other scheduled testing resulting in a louder than expected result," Hice said in an email yesterday. "There will be additional tests on the same test range of the same type today and tomorrow from 1 p.m. through 6 p.m."
• The tests are routing missile tests that have been done many times at Redstone, she said.

Zoom in: In a Facebook post Tuesday, Team Redstone confirmed that "routine operations on a range ... resulted in louder than expected noise levels. It was not a result of rocket engine testing."

Catch up quick: Team Redstone, on Facebook and X, announced about two hours before the boom that "The rumble you will hear" was planned rocket engine hotfire testing for Monday.

• Those rumbles (a familiar sound after dark) were also heard later in the evening Monday.

• The Facebook post has, at time of writing, had 450 comments and 136 shares as people asked for updates or an explanation to what they heard.

The intrigue: Team Redstone posted and quickly deleted a statement saying that all agencies on the installation had confirmed no unscheduled tests and the noise was unrelated to the arsenal, fueling further questions.

• "The rush to get out information last night was a mistake," Hice said. "We should have [waited] until every single organization reported in. It's important to us that our community knows what's happening on the installation, but in this case, we should have waited until we had the right answer."