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Fireball Spotted in Arizona, Western States ID’d As Russian Rocket Debris

Several hours after the bright light soared across the sky, military officials confirmed it was Russian space debris. A Plane? Superman? Was Independence Day real after all?

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On Tuesday around 6:15 p.m., people across Southern California, Arizona and Nevada reported seeing a fireball streak across the night sky, prompting speculation over what the source of it was.


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Sometimes the truth isn’t stranger than fiction.


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The Joint Space Operation Center had been tracking the rocket body, along with 16,000 other objects, Strategic Command spokesman Lt. Col. Martin O’Donnell said in a statement.

Neither US nor Russian officials commented to the AP on what the rocket was used for, but non-government experts said it was launched to take materials to the International Space Station.

“It’s not something people need to worry about”, said David Wright, a space-debris expert who is co-director of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The fireball triggered its own firestorm on social media, as observers on the ground shared videos and photos of it flying through the sky and pondered whether it was a shooting star, a meteor or a fallen satellite.

The light was seen streaking across the sky before it appeared to break up.

The Soyuz-2.1a rocket booster was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on December 21 at 08:44 (GMT).

He initially thought it was an airplane.

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“It makes sense that people are skeptical”, Thoburn said.

Mysterious light spotted in night sky