Sputnik 4 debris falls on Manitowoc, Wisconsin

When
A marker in a Manitowoc street showing where Sputnik 4 debris landed
The marker in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where a piece of Sputnik 4 landed in 1962 Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A fiery reentry over Wisconsin before dawn left a roughly 20-pound metal chunk in a Manitowoc street, found by two police officers. Laboratory analysis tied it to Sputnik 4, a Soviet test spacecraft, making it a well-documented case of space debris rather than a UFO.

Sources

  1. PressRemember when a Soviet spacecraft landed in Wisconsin? (opens in a new tab)Popular Science (Amy Shira Teitel) / 2015-09-01
  2. OtherSputnik fragment makes for a town party (opens in a new tab)NASA Watch / 2007-09-08

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