Space junks of Russian satellite forms fireball over Australia
Several people witnessed a brilliant fireball, as the space junks of a Russian military satellite launched on Friday, burnt after entering the earth's atmosphere. A four-stage Soyuz-2 rocket lifted off from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northwestern Russia early Friday morning, carrying a classified payload that's believed to be the fourth satellite for the country's EKS OiBU missile-warning network, according to RussianSpaceWeb.com.
EPIC!! Check out this incredible vision captured by Mel Aldridge not long ago at Cashmore near Portland! We're getting plenty of reports. @abcmelbourne pic.twitter.com/1KuldCy6OJ
— Vic Storm Chasers (@VicStormChasers) May 22, 2020
The Soyuz successfully delivered the satellite to its intended orbit, the Russian space agency Roscosmos announced Friday afternoon.
The rocket's third stage was expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere over southeastern Australia, with any surviving debris from that part of the booster targeted to splash-down in the Pacific Ocean south of Tasmania.
Many people in the region, from central Victoria to northern Tasmania, saw a brilliant fireball overhead at the appropriate time, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported. This was no coincidence; they were witnessing the fiery death of the Soyuz's third stage.
"The light show was not a shooting star or a meteor, but a rocket returning to Earth,” the Astronomical Society of Victoria vice-president, Perry Vlahos, told Guardian Australia.
He also said that the debris burned up on re-entry and none of it would have hit the ground.