Flaming Space Junk Makes Jaws Drop in Australia

universetoday.com ^ | July 10, 2014 | Bob King on

[BenLurkin]

The magnificent man-made meteor, weighing some 4,400 pounds (2,000 kg), was seen from Melbourne to Sydney across the states of Victoria and New South Wales around 10 p.m. Hundreds of people were stopped in their tracks. Most noticed how slowly the fireball traveled and how long it continue to burn on the way down.

...

Ted Molczan, citizen satellite tracker and frequent contributor to the amateur satellite watchers SeeSat-L site, notes that the timing and appearance almost certainly point to the decay or de-orbiting of the Russian Soyuz 2-1B rocket booster that launched the meteorological satellite Meteor M2 on July 8.

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Reportedly, only one person has been struck by satellite debris. In 1997 Lottie Williams of Tulsa, Oklahoma was hit on the shoulder while walking by a small, twisted piece of metal weighing as much as a crushed soda can. It was traced back to the tank of a Delta II rocket that launched a satellite in 1996. I suppose it’s only a matter of time before someone else gets hit, but the odds aren’t great. More likely, you’ll see what alarmed and delighted so many southeastern Australians Thursday night: a grand show of disintegration.

[BenLurkin]

I see what you did there.

And in gratitude (and in honor of the upcoming cinematic masterpiece Sharknado 2) I post a picture my favorite pic of the inimitable Tara Reid...

[MediaMole]

Sputnik 1 crashed in little Manitowoc, Wisconsin. It’s a cool bit of cold war history to see the marker in the road where it hit.

[BenLurkin]

Interesting!