Fire Track Across Sky Traced to Soviet Rocket
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The empty shell of a Soviet-made rocket re-entered the earth’s atmosphere and was seen as a fireball over the western United States on Wednesday night, the North American Air Defense Command reported.
Observatories, police and aviation authorities from Los Angeles to Albuquerque and from Oakland to San Diego said they received “hundreds” of telephone inquiries.
NORAD spokeswoman Kay Cormier said the rocket body, which was used to launch a Soviet communications satellite in September, entered the atmosphere shortly after 8 p.m. near Phoenix and apparently was consumed in flames before striking the earth.
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