Mysterious space junk found by fisherman on Oregon beach, authorities say

Where did it come from?

A piece of suspected space junk washed up in Alsea Bay near Waldport, Oregon, remains unidentified, Lincoln County sheriff’s officials said.

The charred debris was found by a fisherman and stored at a nearby business.

After someone notified authorities of the find at 3:15 p.m., deputies and firefighters sealed off the area to check for hazardous materials, sheriff’s officials said in a release.

The department contacted SpaceX engineers, who could not confirm it came from one of their rockets but said it resembled a “composite overwrapped pressure vessel.”

After engineers confirmed the object could be safely moved, it was taken to a secure location, the sheriff’s office reported.

Authorities are continuing to examine the space junk.

On March 29, people in Oregon and Washington posted videos of streaking lights across the night sky, which were later confirmed to be pieces of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket burning up on re-entry, KGW reported.

The rocket had been launched into orbit 22 days earlier, according to the station.

A composite overwrapped pressure vessel from the rocket was found April 2 on a Washington farm, McClatchy News reported.

This story was originally published April 11, 2021 at 10:47 AM with the headline "Mysterious space junk found by fisherman on Oregon beach, authorities say."