William Atkins
Monday, 16 February 2009 22:42
Science -
Space
Page 1 of 3
People of central Texas reported Sunday morning, February 15, 2009, that they saw 'fireballs' streaking across their local skies. Many onlookers thought it was debris from two communications satellites that collided in space earlier in the week. However, officials with the U.S. Air Force Space Command said No.
According to KXXV-TV/NBC News,
“Around 11 a.m. Sunday, News Channel 25 was flooded with calls from viewers who say they saw fiery streaks in the sky. The shaking and loud noise could be attributed to a possible sonic boom from the falling debris, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Roland Herwig.” [KXXV-TV (covering the areas of Waco, Killeen, and Temple, Texas):
"Fiery debris rains down over Central Texas”]
In addition, airline pilots also noted to air traffic controllers at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport the presence of the fiery streaks in the sky as they flew commercial passenger airplanes over Texas.
KOAA/NBC News, out of Colorado, reported that,
“Numerous people across Texas reported seeing fireballs in the air Sunday morning. People in Richardson, Plano, Burleson and near Corsicana reported seeing the streaks in the skies.” [KOAA: “
Mysterious "fire balls" fall from Texas sky”]
The story must not be taken too serious for the Colorado News organization because they listed it under the
“Wacky Stories” heading.
[Author's note: I'm not sure why a media organization would list a fireball, whether it was from a meteor or debris from a satellite, streaking across the sky, as a "wacky" story. If people reported seeing "little green men" peeking their faces out of the windows of a spacecraft streaking across the sky, then I can possibly see reporting it as a "wacky" story.]
On Tuesday, February 10, 2009, the Russian Kosmos 2251 satellite and the U.S. Iridium 33 satellite collided with each other about 790 kilometers (490 miles) above northern Siberia in Russia.
Page two contains additional information on the space satellite collision over Russia, along with a video of the fireballs over Texas.
