A giant piece of Chinese language area junk crashed to Earth over Southern California early Tuesday morning (April 2), placing on fairly a present for observers within the Golden State.The autumn created a blazing fireball witnessed by folks from the Sacramento space all the way in which all the way down to San Diego, in keeping with the American Meteor Society (AMS). As of Tuesday afternoon, 81 folks had reported sightings of the occasion to the AMS. The hunk of area particles was the orbital module of China’s Shenzhou 15 spacecraft, in keeping with astrophysicist and satellite tv for pc tracker Jonathan McDowell. It had been up there for some time; Shenzhou 15 launched three astronauts to the nation’s Tiangong area station in November 2022.The Shenzhou orbital module, which weighs about 3,300 kilos (1,500 kilograms), gives further room for astronauts and science experiments in area. It is not designed to come back again to Earth safely on the finish of its mission; the Shenzhou reentry module is constructed to do this, with astronauts on board.Associated: 6 varieties of objects that might trigger an area particles apocalypseJennifer M. captured this photograph of a fireball in Earth’s skies from Phelan, California on April 2, 2024 and forwarded it to the American Meteor Society. The fireball was brought on by the reentry of China’s Shenzhou 15 orbital module, consultants say. (Picture credit score: Jennifer M./American Meteor Society)After all, most people who noticed the fireball streak throughout the sky round 1:40 a.m. native California time (4:40 a.m. EDT; 0840 GMT) did not know what it was. Some thought it might have been a bit of SpaceX {hardware}, which was an affordable guess: A Falcon 9 rocket had launched 22 of the corporate’s Starlink web satellites from Vandenberg Area Power Base on California’s central coast about six hours earlier.Breaking area information, the most recent updates on rocket launches, skywatching occasions and extra!The burning particles could not have been the Falcon 9’s first stage; that piece of {hardware} lands safely after launch and is reused. However the workhorse rocket’s higher stage is disposable.Casey B. captured this photograph of a fireball from San Diego on April 2, 2024 and forwarded it to the American Meteor Society. (Picture credit score: Casey B./American Meteor Society)The Shenzhou 15 orbital module was hardly the primary massive piece of Chinese language area junk to crash again to Earth in dramatic trend, nor was it the largest.The 23-ton (21-metric-ton) core stage of the nation’s highly effective Lengthy March 5B rocket, whose launches helped construct Tiangong, routinely fall to Earth in an uncontrolled trend.These particles crashes have drawn criticism from quite a lot of folks within the area neighborhood, together with the heads of NASA and the European Area Company, who’ve decried them as irresponsible and probably harmful.