SAIPAN — The unidentified object seen breaking apart in the sky over Saipan on Thursday evening appeared roughly 15 minutes after a Chinese heavy-lift rocket was scheduled to lift off from Hainan on a flight path heading east toward geosynchronous orbit.
Community video of the object shared with NMI News Service was recorded at about 5:45 p.m.
A Long March 5 rocket launch from the Wenchang Space Launch Site had been scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Chamorro Standard Time Thursday, according to spaceflight tracking outlet NASASpaceflight.com and notices to airmen filed for the mission, with the rocket taking an eastward trajectory suitable for a satellite bound for geosynchronous orbit. Launch observers reported the rocket lifted off on schedule carrying the TJSW-25 communications technology satellite.
Long March 5 rockets flying that profile from Wenchang head out over the Philippine Sea, with spent stages traveling thousands of kilometers downrange before burning up in the atmosphere.
The National Weather Service in Guam said it cannot confirm or deny what the object seen falling through the atmosphere near Saipan was. Warning Coordination Meteorologist Landon Aydlett said the NWS will defer to its government partners at the Marianas Regional Fusion Center to interrogate the object and its possible sources.
A high-altitude cloud left glowing pink in the twilight sky after the event was visible from both Saipan and Guam on Thursday evening, an indication of altitude far above ordinary weather.
Homeland Security and Emergency Management Special Assistant Clement Bermudes said earlier Thursday the agency is looking into the incident.
A similar sight appeared over the Marianas on Dec. 27, 2019, when a bright orange streak over Guam and Saipan was attributed by the National Weather Service in Guam to a likely meteor or possible debris from a Chinese rocket launch. A Long March 5 rocket launched from Wenchang that same evening.
There are no confirmed reports of debris reaching the ground. This is a developing story and NMI News Service will continue to provide updates as they become available.
