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Space junk misses Calgary

The Canadian Press
February 14, 2009

A piece of space junk the size of a pickup truck hurtling toward Calgary changed course in the nick of time, saving the city from disaster Friday.

Had the suspected rocket debris hit a residential area, it would have triggered a catastrophic emergency and likely caused massive casualties, officials say.

"This is an extraordinary event," said Colin Lloyd, executive director of planning and operations at the Alberta Emergency Management Agency.

The junk's flight from space happened so quickly that emergency officials scrambled to prepare a public warning that would have broken into regular radio and television broadcasts.

Shortly after 10 a. m. Friday, the AEMA was told a piece of rocket debris the size of a pickup was hurtling toward southern Alberta.

Initially, the trajectory was to take the rocket debris into Calgary, but officials soon changed their analysis and estimated the fall would be in Wheatland County, about 110 kilometres east of the city.

Officials scrambled to organize for the worst-case scenario. If the object had struck in a residential area, "it probably would have been significant loss of life," Lloyd said.

Fortunately, a nightmare scenario was averted less than 40 minutes later when the debris was deflected off its course in the atmosphere and landed harmlessly in the Atlantic Ocean.

But it was such a close call that AEMA was within seconds of issuing the public warning notice. Among the messages was a warning for people not to get close to the object, as it could be radioactive.