(Newser)
“A piece of rocket debris seen leaking across the northwest Pacific sky crashed on a farm in eastern Washington last week, authorities said.” After the March 25 event, a farmer discovered a piece of rocket almost intact in a private field, Tri-City Herald reported. The 5-foot pressure vessel, wrapped in composite, used to store helium, left a nearly 4-inch piece in the ground, County Sheriff’s spokesman Kyle Foreman said. No one was injured. The Seattle National Meteorological Service said the bright objects reported in the sky on March 25 were remnants of the second stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, leaving comet-like paths as they burned as they re-entered Earth’s atmosphere.
The farmer, who authorities said he did not want to be identified, suspected the debris could have come from the rocket and left a message at the sheriff’s office over the weekend, Foreman said. Deputies responded on Monday and contacted SpaceX officials, AP reports. SpaceX has confirmed it is part of the rocket and has since recovered it, Foreman said. Falcon 9 is a two-stage reusable rocket designed by SpaceX to carry people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond, according to the SpaceX website. It is said that there were 111 launches and 71 landings.
(Read more SpaceX stories.)