--- title: "Texas Residents Spot Disintegrating Russian Rocket Booster in Sky" description: "A second stage of a Russian rocket that launched a mysterious spacecraft  reentered the Earth's atmosphere over the weekend, burning up like a comet." date: "2020-07-21" modified: "2020-07-21" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/texas-residents-disintegrating-russian-rocket" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "rocket booster" - "Roscosmos" - "Russia" - "the digest" --- # Texas Residents Spot Disintegrating Russian Rocket Booster in Sky ![A second stage of a Russian rocket that launched a mysterious spacecraft  reentered the Earth's atmosphere over the weekend, burning up like a comet.]() *\Image: Armando Pena Garza via Twitter\* ## Great Big Fireball A second stage of a Russian rocket reentered the Earth's atmosphere over the weekend, burning up like a comet. The spectacular event was caught on camera by [dozens of onlookers]() across south Texas and Mexico. https://twitter.com/Marco_Langbroek/status/1284561160361181184 Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, [noted on Twitter]() that it was likely a second stage of the Soyuz rocket that put a mysterious spacecraft called Kosmos-2543 into orbit. Russia's Kosmos-2543 mission made headlines earlier this year when *TIME* reported that the mysterious spacecraft [appeared to closely shadow]() a multibillion-dollar US spy satellite after launching in November 2019. https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1284504773073481734 ## Falling Rockets While the great big fireball in the sky was truly a sight to behold, it's a pretty common occurrence, as McDowell noted in a tweet, writing that "there have been thousands which have reentered like this over the years." Rocket parts are almost impossible to track, as their orbit decays over time. Once they're close enough to reenter the atmosphere, they become bright in the sky as they heat up. While it is rare, some rocket parts can survive this reentry and fall to the ground. China, for instance, let a gigantic Long March 5B rocket [descend back to Earth in a completely uncontrolled manner]() in May. Meanwhile, SpaceX has achieved a new milestone on Monday, [catching both fairing halves]() of a recent launch payload using two massive ship-mounted nets. **READ MORE:** [Falling Russian space junk spotted in skies across West Texas]() \[*KTXS 12*\] **More on rockets falling:** *[Oops: China Just Dropped a Huge Rocket Piece Back to Earth]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()