Johannes Kepler ATV Reentry Blog

If you wish to follow the fireball reentry of ESA's Johannes Kepler ATV, scheduled for tomorrow 21JUN2011, please CLICK HERE

ATV Johannes Kepler as it undocks and slips away From ISS 20JUN2011

Space Trash Dumpster To Return To Earth In A Fireball On June 21st 2011

Man Made Fireball To Put On Show Over The Pacific Ocean 

From BBC News 20JUN2011

Late on Tuesday (GMT), a huge fireball will streak across the skies over the Pacific Ocean.

Not many will get to see it; it will be over an uninhabited part of the world, and ships and planes have been warned to steer clear of the area.
The event is the return from orbit of Europe's space freighter, ATV-Johannes Kepler.
It has completed its mission at the International Space Station (ISS) and it's now time to come home.
The freighter took up more than seven tonnes of fuel and other supplies to the orbiting outpost, but for its return it has been packed with the platform's rubbish.
Little of the ship or this waste is actually expected to make it all the way to the surface of the Pacific Ocean. Most will simply vaporise in the intense heat generated during the descent through the atmosphere.

 

Johannes Kepler has spent the past four months attached to the back of the ISS. It has been filled with all the rubbish from the space station for its destructive return to Earth

MORE FROM BBC NEWS HERE

Scottsdale AZ Exploding Meteor Fireball Reported To ELPALLSKY 19JUN2011

Early A.M. Meteor Fireball West Of Scottsdale/Phoenix AZ Ends In Terminal Burst Triggering Photo Sensors

 

From The "Chatbox":

 

Jun 20 2011, 1:01 AM

Guest370 (guest): Over Scottsdale, AZ 19June2011 early morning(2am aprox), was facing north fireball was tracking south to north, on my west and was bright orange then fading out before arching behind a tree, then a flash like lightning in the sky and the lights outside the appartment cut off for a second, strange

***This event was bright enough to trigger photo sensors in Scottsdale and was likely seen by many eyewitnesses. If you saw this fireball, please email wxtx01@gmail.com with details. Please include time, date, your location, which way you were facing, direction the object traveled (left to right etc.), color, any fragmentation, sounds (booms, sizzles, hisses etc.). Thank you!***