Russian Rocket Comes Down Over Wyo.

Brietbart/AP ^ | 01-04-07

[mfnorman]

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AP) -- A spent Russian booster rocket re-entered the atmosphere Thursday over Colorado and Wyoming, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing flaming objects in the sky at the time the rocket was re-entering, NORAD spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Sean Kelly said.

"It was pretty spectacular," said Riverton Police Capt. Mark Stone, who said he saw the burning object while he was retrieving his newspaper. "My first concern is that we had some sort of aircraft that was coming down. It was definitely leaving a burning debris trail behind it."

Stone said he could tell it was fairly large object, but it was too high to make out exactly what it was.

Kelly said the agency was unable to confirm a report that a piece of the rocket may have hit the ground near Riverton, Wyo., at about 6 a.m. MST.

No damage was reported, and any debris that may have hit the ground was not believed to be hazardous, NORAD said.

NORAD identified the rocket as an SL-4 that had been used to launch a French space telescope in December, and Kelly said U.S. spacewatchers knew the rocket was coming down.

"Objects falling from space are almost an everyday occurrence," Kelly said.

[mfnorman]

"Objects falling from space are almost an everyday occurrence," Kelly said.

that's nice to know

[LibFreeOrDie]

Link to video on this Web page:

http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=1961501&version=21&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1

[Cheburashka]

Heads UP!!!

[mysterio]

This means war

lol

[jan in Colorado]

Thanks so much for posting the link to the video. I heard about it on the radio this morning, and was hoping there was some video of it.

Watch Spectacular Video from the Sky

[txroadkill]

NORAD identified the rocket as an SL-4 that had been used to launch a French space telescope in December

The French and Russians working together...

I've seen that movie

[KellyAdmirer]

any debris that may have hit the ground was not believed to be hazardous, NORAD said.

Well, if it fell on Peterson AFB and took out a Colonel or two, they might have had a different take on that.

[TigersEye]

A number of people in northern CO saw and heard this this morning. The FOX radio station got quite a few calls and IMs about it. I think I heard it too while half asleep in bed. Riverton, WY is quite a ways from Estes Park. I wonder what trajectory this rocket supposedly took and how low it was over the CO front range?

[vince2285]

Ahhhh thanks mom! I do have to say I was kinda hoping that was Nancy pelosi being put in her place!!

[Fred Nerks]

pity about that...I was sorta hoping it was a meteor heading for Mecca.

[BigCinBigD]

Officials with the United States Army Air Corps in Roswell have identified it as a weather balloon.

[USF]

Pretty light show...

...probably enough to have spontaneously caused mass surrender, had this occurred over Paris.

[WayneM]

I saw one of thrse while driving on the interstate in Mississippi back in the early 80s.

Through the windshield it looked at first like a lit up Goodyear blimp. After I pulled over to get a better look, I could see that it was disintegrating and shedding pieces of debris. I assumed it was of natural origin until I heard later that it was a booster.

Quite a memorable sight.

[Freedom4US]

Wonder if it's related to the metallic object that crashed through a home in New Jersey? That made the news yesterday...

[Night Hides Not]

I guess these guys weren't available to take care of the problem:

[TheCipher]

Of course if this were a US rocket coming down in Russia, we would have heard claims of it killing a villager's prize chickens whose bloodline dated back to the Czar. Of course we would have to compensate him $10,000 a chicken :-)

[chilepepper]

commie sneak attack alert...