Re-Entry of Soviet Rocket Creates ‘Fireworks’ in West Coast Sky

Debris that came “shimmering down like fireworks” as it plunged through the night sky over California and Oregon was from a Soviet rocket, U.S. military officials said Friday.

The light show Thursday was the result of the re-entry into the atmosphere of a rocket body from the Soyuz T-14, which was launched Tuesday, said Maj. Jacob Mogel of the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

Sightings of the blazing space junk were reported in at least 12 Northern California counties and Oregon, officials said.

“It just seemed to come at us from the northwest with a big, huge, long tail,” said Tom Gilchrist, who spotted the light show in Sacramento.

“The stuff was shimmering down like fireworks,” said Anna Gillis, another Sacramento motorist. “I first thought it was two airplanes on fire, and then the stuff came falling down.”

“I was getting out of my car when I looked up and saw this red, orange thing glowing in the sky,” said Marion Jacobs of Stockton.

The size of the debris was judged to be about 15 square meters, rather large for pieces from re-entering rockets, Mogel said.

“As an object comes back into the atmosphere, the atmosphere causes it to break up into many smaller pieces, which heat up from friction in the atmosphere and burn,” he said.

About half a dozen airplane pilots reported seeing what they described as “a meteor, but in more than one piece,” said Doug Smith, acting area manager at Oakland Air Traffic Control Center, Fremont.

Space debris returns to the atmosphere every two or three days, but whether it is seen depends on its size and whether the re-entry occurs on the night side of the globe, Mogel said.