Moonwatchers Report Sputnik II Plunged to Earth in Blaze of Fire

Russia's rocket Satellite Sputnik II has apparently left its orbit and plunged to earth "blowing up in the sky," according to John White, Director of Public Information at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Institute.

A moonwatch team in Bryn Athens, Pennsylvania, reported at 8:45 p.m. spoting an object in the sky "trailing a tail of tiny particles." Ten minutes later word came from the Barbados Islands reporting that a fiery object had been sighted "blowing up in the sky."

Subsequent information from the Mitra, a Dutch freighter cruising south of the Virgin Islands, indicated that a flaming ball had been seen plunging downward "trailing smoke and sparks."

"We assume that this was the end of the satellite," White said. There have been no more sightings from moonwatch stations across the country," and it should ordinarily have crossed the U.S. several times by now."

He explained that "big chunks" of the satellite may have fallen into the ocean without disintegrating. There is also the possibility that parts of Sputnik II, for instance the large rocket motor, "may remain in orbit, although as of yet we have no evidence of this."

The four American satellites still orbiting the world are given from months to 100 years by Smithsonian astrophysicists.