Last night we were just north of Omaha headed south at 32000 feet around 830 pm central time. We saw what looked like a star for a few minutes before it became apparent that whatever it was was moving. It then streaked across the sky with a tremendous light show before apparently burning itself out. I have seen plenty of falling stars over the years but this was way bigger. I was thinking maybe space junk junk or something. There was some guard chatter about it as it was happening. I looked in the news this morning to see if there was anything about it but nothing so far. Did anyone else see this by any chance??

Sounds awesome! Go broncos!

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It was a tesla.

Didn't see it, but that thing could have been part of the space x rocket. I'm sure some parts of the upper stage and payload shield were allowed to re enter.

Was over Nebraska when I saw it. It was a flying Tesla.

Omaha?


Must've been the ghost of Curtis LeMay

Mystery solved! This was what we saw. So yeah I guess it was a Tesla!

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbc...3.html%3famp=y

Maybe. Depending on when that stuff was released, it was probably in orbit or close enough to it to hang out for a long time, weeks, months, or more. Anything released prior to orbital velocity would have re-entered shortly after the launch... as it loses altitude atmospheric drag will pull it down very quickly.

The payload fairing was released pretty early, so I imagine it came down quick, might have taken a few hours, but more likely less than an hour.

More likely it was space debris (ie dead satellite) that had been up there for a while, or maybe a big meteor or even a small comet. Satellites and comets would probably provide better fireworks, since they would break up more than a meteor (typically solid rock/metal).

It was the final burn of SpaceX Falcon heavy sending the Tesla into history!
One of the coolest things I've witnessed!

https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/02/0...status-center/

The timing was right for the on-course burn.