[meteorite-list] Ball Of Fire Seen In Western Canada Sky Was Space Debris, Not Meteor

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:53:32 2004
Message-ID: <200212021654.IAA29650_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.canoe.ca/WesternTicker/CANOE-wire.Meteor-Streaks.html

Ball of fire seen in Western Canada sky was space debris, not meteor
Canoe
November 28, 2002

VICTORIA (CP) -- A ball of fire that streaked across the southern B.C. sky
Thursday was space debris.

NORAD has told the Canadian military the burning light came from a Russian
rocket body re-entering the earth's atmosphere.

Navy public affairs spokesman Gerry Pash said nothing went wrong with the
rocket. It was just a straightforward re-entry.

Pash said the space junk could be seen across much of Western Canada and
perhaps as far inland as Montana.

Residents from Vancouver Island to the Okanagan flooded radio stations with
phone calls after the sighting at 6:15 a.m. PST.

Witnesses said the burning pile of debris had a gigantic tail.

"I saw about five of them and the front one was just blazing," a Nanaimo man
said.

"And I knew it wasn't a plane because it wasn't dropping. It was like a
horizontal flight."
Received on Mon 02 Dec 2002 11:54:26 AM PST