BROOKS BULLETIN: Brooks was in the path of space junk

Brooks was in the potential path of space junk on Friday the 13th.

At about 10:30 a.m. the province got word that debris from a Russian rocket, about the size of a school bus, was hurtling towards Alberta. First it was thought Calgary might be the only centre in jeopardy, but soon southern Alberta, including Brooks, Hanna, Vulcan, Strathmore and Drumheller, was moved to the warning list.

At 10:46 a.m., just as the emergency warning button was about to be pushed by an official at the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, a call came in from Ottawa to say the debris suddenly was moving away from Alberta. It fell into the Atlantic Ocean.

HOUSTON CHRONICLE:

Sunday’s great Texas fireball was – probably – just a meteor.

Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Strategic Command said the bright lights witnessed over Texas skies were almost certainly not linked to last week’s collision between an American commercial satellite and a Russian government communications satellite.

“Our indication is this was a natural phenomenon, perhaps something like a meteor,” said Air Force Maj. Regina Winchester, a spokeswoman for the Space Surveillance Network, part of the Pentagon’s Strategic Command arm that tracks space debris.

TIMES TRIBUNE: Loud booms rattle Tri-County

Officials: Debris from satellite collision responsible for sonic booms

By Sean Bailey / Staff Writer

Debris from a satellite collision entering the Earth’s atmosphere at extreme speeds caused loud booms heard across the Tri-County and .

Regional emergency management directors say the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that satellite debris caused the booms.

“The Indianapolis (FAA) Center is reporting that debris from two satellites that collided a day or two ago is entering the atmosphere, and creating sonic booms,” Regional Emergency Management Director Jerry Rains said late Friday night.

CNN: Texans report fireball in sky, sonic booms

(CNN) -- Sonic booms and at least one fireball in the sky were reported in Texas on Sunday, less than a week after two satellites collided in space and a day after the Federal Aviation Administration asked U.S. pilots to watch for "falling space debris," authorities said.

USA TODAY: Two satellites collide 500 miles over Siberia

Two communications satellites collided Tuesday in an unprecedented orbital accident that would have been visible from the Earth, a NASA scientist said Wednesday.

The collision roughly 500 miles from Earth created a huge field of debris, but the risk to the International Space Station and its crew of three — 215 miles from Earth — is very low, said Nicholas Johnson of NASA's Johnson Space Center. So is the risk to the next shuttle mission, he said. The launch is scheduled for as early as Feb. 22.

The debris, though, could make it more dangerous for astronauts to repair the Hubble Space Telescope on a space shuttle mission planned for May, Johnson said. The Hubble is about 375 miles from Earth, Johnson said, and debris generally falls toward Earth.

The collision was between a now-defunct Russian communications satellite launched in 1993 and one of 66 satellites privately owned by Iridium, a Maryland company that provides phone service to customers such as workers on offshore oil platforms. The company said in a statement that service interruptions should be minimal and fixed by Friday.