ELEMENTS DE FUSEE — REGIONAL (67, 08) 13.02.2013

Around 21:15 on 13 February 2013, witnesses in Alsace and Lorraine, including 6 people in Strasbourg-Entzheim's control tower, saw a luminous phenomenon with a trail move silently on a straight horizontal path. Further accounts were collected later. The regional case title lists departments 67 and 08. GEIPAN identified a fireball produced by re-entry of a Soyuz SL-4 R/B stage, catalogued as 39083 or 2013-007B. It had launched on 11 February to place a Progress cargo spacecraft on its way to the International Space Station; see the modelled ground-track diagram. GEIPAN notes that only Alsace and southeastern France had clear skies that evening, explaining the relatively few French sightings despite the spectacular display. The case was classified A: conclusively identified re-entry of large space debris.