Space Debris Over Wenatchee – Mystery Solved

Three weeks ago, I saw a brilliant light show, falling space debris - in the sky just North of Wenatchee.

It was early Thursday evening, January 19th.

After the last bit of debris disappeared, I checked my watch. It was 6:12pm. My son and I were about to leave my in-laws after having dinner. 

We were trying to find the Big Dipper, when the slow-moving sparks appeared.. The orange sparks were moving away from the Pacific Ocean and moving in an Eastern direction over Cascade Mountains. It was lower on the horizon, almost like the sparks were barely above Burch Mountain - North of the Wenatchee Valley. 

My first thought “Wow, look at that meteor” But those blink across the sky in a split second. This spectacle was moving much slower.

I asked our listeners on the KW3 Facebook page, if they saw it - a few did.

Yes! I thought it was a jet, then it split into 2, then I had no idea what it was that I saw - Rose M.

 

Okay I thought I was seeing things on my way home from work that I almost missed a red light  -Verna G.

 

We saw it up in Manson last night. -Sarah W.

I had a strong hunch that the lightshow was caused by falling space debris - since I saw something JUST LIKE THIS - nearly two years ago - In March of 2021.

That night, a Space X Falcon 9 rocket booster re-entered the atmosphere over the Pacific Northwest.  By chance I saw it, while driving home.  Shocked and horrified, I thought I was witnessing the whole darn International Space Station falling out of the sky.

This bit of debris was from the Space X Falcon 9 booster - was the size of a water heater was found in someone’s property in Grant County. (Info: Grant County Sheriff)

Back to Three weeks ago.

No news outlet talked about the falling space debris on the night of January 19th. Recently, I went to a satellite tracking website that mentioned something indeed did fall out of the sky that night. 

A website called Satview.org says the mystery space object was a satellite called “LEMUR-2-YUASA” - Launched on May 21st, 2018 from a NASA facility in Virginia. 

The Low Earth Multi-Use Receiver (LEMUR) is Spire’s 3U CubeSat platform used to track maritime, aviation, and weather activity from space. - Spire Global Inc.

The Lemur-2 satellite is designed to operate and orbit the planet for only two years. This particular satellite hung on for three and half years before crashing back through the atmosphere, last month just North of the Wenatchee Valley. My guess is any debris that survived the fiery re-entry landed somewhere in Interior British Columbia.

Here is a pic of the Lemur-2-YUASA on a happier day.