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General Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: sdsds on 01/30/2011 02:26 am

Title: Reentry Observed Over LaGuardia (LGA)?
Post by: sdsds on 01/30/2011 02:26 am
During descent into LaGuardia Airport this evening a passenger aboard a commercial flight (SWA 3130) observed a "fireball" streaking across the sky.  The aircraft was still above the clouds at the time, but had begun descent.  (The flight is reported to have landed at 8:43 PM EST on 29 Jan 11.)

Could this have been e.g. the reentry of the upper stage from the recent HII-B launch?

EDIT to add:
  http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2011/01/worcester-massachusetts-meteor.html
Title: Re: Reentry Observed Over LaGuardia (LGA)?
Post by: rdale on 01/30/2011 02:58 am
Could have been one of thousands of items or a meteorite - what would lead you to think it was from HII-B?
Title: Re: Reentry Observed Over LaGuardia (LGA)?
Post by: sdsds on 01/30/2011 03:27 am
The H-IIB flight 2 payload was separated into a 200x300km orbit.  The second stage engine re-ignited after payload separation (Jan 22) in a "controlled re-entry test". 

http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2011/01/20110122_h2bf2_2_e.html

But no, I cannot find evidence that this evening (Jan 29) was the expected time of re-entry.
Title: Re: Reentry Observed Over LaGuardia (LGA)?
Post by: edkyle99 on 01/30/2011 03:47 am

Could this have been e.g. the reentry of the upper stage from the recent HII-B launch?


The upper stage used to orbit Progress a few days ago offers another possibility.

 - Ed Kyle
Title: Re: Reentry Observed Over LaGuardia (LGA)?
Post by: sdsds on 01/30/2011 04:00 am
I found a predicted reentry for 31 Jan:  a Long March 3A stage from the Dec 17,  2010 launch.

http://reentrynews.aero.org/upcoming.html

Nice that The Aerospace Corporation is keeping track!  But with nothing on their calendar for today, the natural object theory (i.e. meteor) is gaining traction....