A huge, red-hot object fell from the sky into a Kenyan village, according to local residents cited by the country’s national broadcaster, prompting an immediate investigation by the national space agency.
A Kenyan Space Agency (KSA) official said the partially burnt metallic object measures about 2.5 metres in diameter, weighs about 500 kilograms and is most likely a fragment from a rocket.
“Such objects are usually designed to burn up as they re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere or to fall over unoccupied areas, such as the oceans,” the space agency shared in a New Year’s Day statement to X, describing the incident as “an isolated case.”
The KSA, working alongside other agencies and local authorities, “secured the area and retrieved the debris, which is now under the Agency’s custody for further investigation”, according to AFP. The issue of space trash has risen in tandem with increased spatial traffic.
The fallen object is likely an isolated case and is still under investigation, it added.
Then Mr. Mutua and his neighbors looked up and saw a large circular object slowly falling from the sky. It resembled a giant car steering wheel and glowed red as it fell, some residents said. It cooled to gray after landing in a thicket, flattening trees and bushes, according to television news footage.
“If the object fell on a homestead, it would have been catastrophic,” Mr. Mutua said. “We didn’t know if it was a bomb or whatever it was and it fell here.”
While the agency offered assurances that the ring, since removed, posed no threat, people living in Mukuku village were still angered by the intrusion from above.
“We want the owner of this land to be compensated,” Paul Musili, another resident, told television news stations. “Since this object fell, we have not been sleeping. Everyone is wondering what is going on.”
