A SpaceX Crew Dragon module reentered the Earth’s atmosphere, causing fireballs to appear around the world as it screamed back to Earth.
Fireballs Appear Around the World as Parts of SpaceX Crew Dragon Scream Back to Earth
It caused quite a show. For all his faults, Elon Musk sure knows how to keep things interesting. Yesterday, skies around the world lit up with what seems to be returning debris courtesy of Musk’s private space travel company SpaceX.
Founded in 2002, SpaceX is a private aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company founded by Elon Musk.
With the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars, SpaceX has developed several advanced spacecraft systems, including the Falcon 9 and Dragon.
The company's reusable rockets have successfully launched numerous satellites, spacecraft, and even NASA astronauts into orbit.
The ‘Dragon Freedom-2 Deb’ , a module that launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida in September 2024 as part of a NASA mission to bring two astronauts to the International Space Station, is believed to have reentered the Earth’s atmosphere. Specifically, it was the unmanned portion of the Dragon — assumed to be the unpressurized cargo trunk — that rained down on skies as far apart as California, Nevada, Morocco, and Australia.
The exact point of reentry is uncertain, but it appears the Dragon whipped across the Pacific ocean, appearing over central California and western Nevada as it screamed toward north-eastern Canada. From there, it arched over the northern Atlantic on a trajectory roughly on a path toward Morocco, reaching mid-reentry over Cameroon, finally completing its rapid global loop somewhere around the Indian Ocean and southeastern Australia.
SpaceX and NASA have yet to release a statement on the trunk’s reentry, and no debris has been found on the ground. This might be due to the nature of its return: as the crew module reentered, the Dragon trunk was jettisoned and left to dawdle in orbit uncontrolled. According to Harvard astronomer ‘Jonathan McDowell’ , ‘this is the last Dragon trunk to be intentionally left in orbit for uncontrolled reentry.’
The fiery return has sparked discussion around the near-limitless freedom SpaceX has been given to rain down debris on the earth without oversight. Some have questioned whether most of the trunk section will burn up in the atmosphere upon reentering, and if anything left over poses a risk to human health and safety.
This raises concerns similar to those surrounding SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, which have fallen out of the sky in large numbers in recent months. The satellites’ costly upkeep necessitates a nearly constant stream of launches, prompting worries about the consequences on reentry, such as scattering dangerous chemical waste into the ozone layer and falling in unpredictable locations.
As Starlink becomes the dominant provider of internet access to rural populations around the globe, questions about the network’s maintenance and Elon Musk’s role in its operation are growing louder. While space travel holds exciting possibilities, it is essential to prioritize the health and wellbeing of those on the ground.
