Fireball streaking across US sky was Russian rocket debris

Several hours after the bright light soared across the sky, military officials confirmed it was Russian space debris.

The fireball triggered its own firestorm on social media, as observers on the ground shared videos and photos of it flying through the sky and pondered whether it was a shooting star, a meteor or a fallen satellite.

US Strategic Command spokeswoman Julie Ziegenhorn has now clarified the mystery by confirming the fireball was in fact the first stage of the Soyuz rocket launched Monday. Earlier reports from the Griffith Observatory stated it could have been a meteor or space debris. He referred other inquiries to the Russian Federal Space Agency.

The reporting assignment was odd, mostly because it came from the owners of Las Vegas’ main newspaper: Take three reporters off their beats and have them closely follow three judges.

Rather, the bright object that was seen from California to Arizona and north to Utah at about 7:15 p.m. MST was a Russian rocket body re-entering the atmosphere.

The Soyuz-2.1a rocket booster was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on December 21 at 08:44 (GMT).

The light was seen streaking across the sky before it appeared to break up.

The light ended up being an unarmed missile test-fired by the U.S. Navy.