News - National
Where did NASA satellite debris land?
Posted: Sep 27, 2011 12:34 PM by Kirsten Bennett
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. space officials have finally figured out where that dead NASA satellite fell back to Earth on Saturday. NASA now says satellite debris scattered over the south Pacific Ocean about as far away from large land masses as you can get.
NASA says the U.S. Air Force calculated the satellite entered Earth's atmosphere generally above American Samoa. But pieces of it didn't start hitting the water for another 300 miles to the northeast, southwest of Christmas Island.
Experts believe about two dozen metal pieces fell over a 500-mile span.
On Saturday, scientists said it was possible some pieces could have reached northwestern Canada, but NASA said Tuesday that new calculations show it landed earlier than they thought, nowhere near North America.
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