The outermost layers of Earth’s atmosphere, the thermosphere and exosphere, are relatively busy places. In these layers, tens of thousands of trackable objects, including satellites and various types of debris, orbit the planet. They are also where dozens of tons of meteoric material enter daily, occasionally producing bright fireballs as the pieces burn up.
Given all of this, there’s a non-zero chance that an astronaut might spot something fiery in the distance when looking out from the dome-shaped cupola on the International Space Station. That’s precisely what one crew member saw and photographed as the station passed over West Africa on April 27, 2026. The astronaut was looking for Progress 95, an incoming cargo craft. Instead, they spotted a bright object directly below, streaking through the upper atmosphere. “I saw its tail grow and then split apart into a shower of smaller pieces,” they later wrote on social media. “It was quite a light show!”
The event was not caused by the cargo resupply ship. Progress 95 (also called Progress MS-34) docked safely on April 27 as planned. However, the astronaut may have witnessed the reentry and breakup of the rocket used to launch it, some other rocket body, a satellite, or other human-made space debris. It’s also possible that the light show was caused by meteoric material burning up. Without knowing exactly where the handheld camera was pointed, it’s hard to definitively determine the source, a scientist with NASA’s Crew Earth Observations office noted.
Most large orbital debris comes from fragmented satellites and launch vehicles. The material is concentrated within 2,000 kilometers of the surface and typically orbits at speeds of roughly 25,000 kilometers (16,000 miles) per hour, according to NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office. Though some of it can maintain a stable orbit for long periods, debris below a certain height faces atmospheric drag that pulls it earthward.
At altitudes below roughly 600 kilomet …