Фото: Adam Borucki, Filip Mazanek / Facebook
On February 19, a fragment of the second stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 — rocket crashed near the city of Poznan in Poland, and, according to locals, the landing was quite loud and bright.
«I immediately remembered a science fiction movie, I thought some military unit was going to attack us», — one of the eyewitnesses said in a comment.
Some people also speculated that it was a meteor or other rare light phenomenon, but later photos of an object found near Poznan that looked like a charred rocket tank measuring approximately 1.5 m × 1 m were circulated online.
The man who came across it reported it to the police, and later the Polish Space Agency concluded that the object was part of a Falcon 9 rocket launched by SpaceX from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on February 1.
Later, the police saidThe report said that a few hours later, a second object of the same size was found in the woods a few miles from where the first one was discovered.
«It was assumed that the second stage would re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere in a controlled manner and fall into the Pacific Ocean», — explains U BBC comments Dr. Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at Harvard University. «But things didn’t go as planned because of an engine failure. We had seen it orbiting the Earth for the past few weeks and were expecting an uncontrolled re-entry».
SpaceX Falcon 9 2nd stage reentry over Poland. pic.twitter.com/0woYfZUwWO
— Chris Clarke (@chrisclarkefly) February 19, 2025
The bright light phenomenon was also observed in the skies over Denmark, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, while McDowell said some fragments of the rocket (if not burned up) may have landed in western Ukraine.
The Falcon 9 second stage from the Starlink 11-4 launch failed to deorbit itself on Feb 2. It reentered over Northern Europe last night, with entry over the Irish Sea at 0343 UTC Feb 19 and the reentry track extending to Poland and Ukraine a couple of minutes later pic.twitter.com/UzvsiHPZX8
— Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) February 19, 2025
«The debris flew over England at about 27,000 miles per hour, then over parts of Scandinavia and into eastern Europe at several hundred miles per hour…This is the fourth incident involving a SpaceX Falcon that has caused concern. Such failures are becoming increasingly common».
The reports did not mention any injured people or infrastructure. Space X has not yet commented.