SpaceX Falcon 9 Re-Entry Debris Spark Spectacular Light Show Over Pacific Northwest

spacex falcon 9 rocket burns up over washington news
If you are in or around Washington State, did you happen to see what looked like a meteor shower around 9 PM ET last night? If so, what you saw was not actually a meteor shower but a SpaceX Falcon 9 second stage burning up in the atmosphere. Wild, right?

Late last night, many people in the pacific northwest were tweeting that they had caught a meteor shower on camera. Many of these tweets, such as @vincelavecchia’s below, include a video of the event, which looks absolutely stunning.

After the hullaballoo began, National Weather Service Seattle took to Twitter to dispel the thoughts of it being a meteor shower. The belief was that it was actually “debris from a Falcon 9 rocket 2nd stage that did not successfully have a deorbit burn” from March 4th. According to astronomer Jonathan McDowell, this seemed to coincide with the track of the rocket-turned-satellite over the Washington area.

nws spacex falcon 9 rocket burns up over washington news

Ultimately, there should not have been any threat to life or property as the second stage came careening back to Earth in a rapid unscheduled disassembly upon reentry. Either way, let us know what you think of this awesome spectacle in the comments down below.