Part of a SpaceX rocket was discovered in Washington state last weekend, days after bright comet-like streaks illuminated the night sky over the Northwest Pacific, a sheriff said.
The space company “recovered the composite overpacked pressure vessel from the Falcon 9 entry last week,” the Grant County sheriff tweeted Friday.
The vessel, which was about 5 feet long, was found last weekend on private property in southwestern Grant County, in the center of the state.
There was no damage, and it left an impact mark of 4 to 5 inches in the ground, said Kyle Foreman, a public information officer for the sheriff’s department. SpaceX was notified Monday and arrived Tuesday to repair it, he said.
Where exactly it fell was not disclosed. “Media and treasure hunters: we do not disclose details. The owner of the property just wants to be left alone,” the sheriff said in the tweet. According to the Tri-City Herald newspaper, it fell on a farmer’s field.
On March 25, stripes lit up the sky over Washington and Oregon. Some thought they were coming from a meteor or comet.
SpaceX never seems to have publicly confirmed that the rocket was involved. But signs quickly showed that.
The National Weather Service in Seattle tweeted that based on unofficial information, “the widespread clear objects in the air were the debris of a second phase of the Falcon 9 rocket that did not have a deorbit burn.” An astronomer told Seattle’s NBC affiliate KING that it was Falcon 9’s rocket launcher.
SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment Friday night.
There are no reports of injuries due to the match 25 event yet. No other reports of debris were made to the sheriff in Grant County, Foreman said.
The Falcon 9 is a reusable two-stage rocket. The second phase delivers the payload. The first phase is designed to return to earth and land. According to the company’s website, there have been 111 Falcon 9 launches so far with 71 landings.
Foreman said he understands that the pressure vessel found is used for storing helium.
