A space ring fell on the village. The bang could be heard from 50 kilometers away
Residents of the village of Mukuku in Makueni County, Kenya, experienced an unusual event – a burnt metal ring with a diameter of 2.5 meters and weighing more than half a ton fell on their area. As it turned out, it was a fragment of a space rocket.
Information about the event that occurred on December 26 was provided by the Kenya Space Agency (KSA).
A space ring fell on a village in Kenya
According to witnesses, the falling object was accompanied by a loud bang that could be heard even from a distance of 50 kilometers. “It was like a huge explosion that shook the entire area. We all ran outside to see what had happened,” said one of Mukuku’s residents, Anna Mwangi. Residents quickly gathered around the large ring, which became the center of speculation about its origins and potential threats.
KSA reassured the local community by saying that initial assessments indicate that the object is the separation ring of a launch vehicle. “Rings of this type typically burn up as they enter Earth’s atmosphere or fall into uninhabited areas such as the oceans,” an agency spokesman explained in an interview with CBS News. “This case is exceptional and will be thoroughly investigated by our expert teams,” the KSA representative added.
The agency secured the area and recovered the remains of the ring, which are currently at its disposal for further research.
Space debris is a threat to Earth
The Mukuku incident is not an isolated incident. In 2022, fragments of the SpaceX Dragon capsule fell on an Australian sheep farm, which sparked widespread media and public interest. In January 2024, a falling piece of metal destroyed a house in Florida, USA, and in March of the same year, another cylindrical object damaged a building in Naples, Italy.
Experts from various space agencies draw attention to the growing problem of space debris, which increases in number and diversity every year.
According to data published by ESA, there are currently over 34,000 space debris larger than 10 cm in Earth orbit, which pose a serious threat to satellites and future space missions.
