Rocket debris lights up skies over the Pacific Northwest

Published 5:52 am Friday, March 26, 2021

Associated Press

SEATTLE — Burning debris from a rocket lit up Pacific Northwest skies Thursday night, the National Weather Service in Seattle said.

“The widely reported bright objects in the sky were debris from a Falcon 9 rocket 2nd stage that did not successfully have a deorbit burn,” the service said in a tweet about the astral occurrence shortly after 9 p.m.

There were no reports of damage or other impacts on the ground.

The rocket delivered Starlink satellites, built in Redmond, into orbit earlier this week, The Seattle Times reported.

SpaceX said Wednesday that the Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth and landed as planned on its ocean-going barge off the coast of Florida.

While we await further confirmation on the details, here's the unofficial information we have so far. The widely reported bright objects in the sky were the debris from a Falcon 9 rocket 2nd stage that did not successfully have a deorbit burn.

— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) March 26, 2021

As a follow up to the debris observed earlier. Here's some more info on atmospheric re-entry. Typical manmade objects obtain low Earth orbit at speeds around 17,500 mph. As they re-enter the Earth's atmosphere, the angle must be just right. If it's too steep, they burn up.

— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) March 26, 2021