SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket debris lights up PNW sky

from
https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/did-you-see-it-deorbit-burn-lights-up-pnw-skies/AV6ADH7YLJCNVC3MBUMACQPNOY/

The video shows dozens of pieces.
Graphics shows map of visable area.

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket debris lights up PNW sky
March 25, 2021 at 11:36 pm PDT
By KIRO 7 News Staff and Chief Meteorologist Morgan Palmer, KIRO 7 News

Thousands saw bright lights in the sky over the Pacific Northwest 
Thursday night. Across Washington and northern Oregon, a streak of 
slow-moving bright lights moved across the sky.

Chief Meteorologist Morgan Palmer has confirmed this “space junk” is the 
second stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket breaking up upon re-entry into 
the earth’s atmosphere. The rocket stage was part of the March 4 launch 
of the SpaceX Starlink satellite internet system. It burned up upon 
re-entry after 22 days in orbit. Palmer says it appears to have entered 
the earth’s atmosphere later than scheduled, bringing the sighting of 
the fiery re-entry over the Northwest instead of over the north Pacific 
Ocean.

He says most of the time, rocket debris like this completely burns up as 
it re-enters the atmosphere, but there is a slim chance there was some 
debris that could make it to the ground. No reports of that have been 
received yet.

“Meteors would generally be moving much faster as they burn up,” Palmer 
said.

The National Weather Service also received calls about the mysterious 
object at about 9 p.m.

”Upon further investigation, we’ve received unofficial information that 
this is debris burning up in the atmosphere from the Falcon 9 second 
stage launch that failed to deorbit properly,” NWS officials said.

Viewers in Aberdeen, Federal Way, Renton, Whidbey Island and Bremerton 
called KIRO 7 and reported seeing the debris.

NWS officials also said they have not heard any impacts across Western 
Washington.