In the video, a meteorite descends rapidly but travels hundreds of kilometers away from the spacecraft, posing no danger.
Ax-1 – the first civilian crew to visit the International Space Station (ISS) safely landed back on Earth aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon on April 26. During this journey, a camera used to monitor meteorites captured the moment when the spacecraft, the ISS, and a bright fireball appeared simultaneously.
“An incredible sight: a meteorite plunging down, igniting in Earth’s atmosphere, passing by the four-member crew in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon as it departed the ISS to return home,” the European Space Agency (ESA) wrote when posting the video on social media platform Twitter on April 29.
In the video, the meteorite is easily recognizable. It appears as a moving object resembling a bright streak descending rapidly. The ISS is the brightest moving object, located in the upper right corner of the meteorite. Meanwhile, the Crew Dragon spacecraft is a fainter dot above the bright streak.
The camera that recorded this special event is part of the AllSky7 meteorite network, a project that monitors and captures images of meteorites using a system of sky observation cameras. The meteorite on April 26 posed no threat to the spacecraft or the ISS. ESA reported that it flew hundreds of kilometers away from the spacecraft.
Initially, the Ax-1 mission was planned to last for 10 days, but bad weather extended it to 17 days, including 15 days at the ISS. Ax-1 is the first mission with an entirely civilian crew, with no members from government agencies. This also marks the first time civilians traveled to the ISS aboard a spacecraft manufactured in the United States.
Three small bright points in the video represent humanity’s journey into space and Earth’s connection to the vast universe. Two of these bright points are the result of human ingenuity and effort. The remaining bright point is the object flying through the solar system, which ultimately ends as a beautiful streak in Earth’s atmosphere.
