Mystery Object From 'Space' Strikes United Airlines Flight Over Utah (wired.com)
(Monday October 20, 2025 @11:30PM (BeauHD)
from the it's-a-bird-it's-a-plane-it's-probably-space-debris dept.)
- Reference: 0179839026
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/10/21/0015212/mystery-object-from-space-strikes-united-airlines-flight-over-utah
- Source link: https://www.wired.com/story/mystery-space-object-strikes-united-airlines-flight-over-utah/
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired:
> The National Transportation Safety Board confirmed Sunday that it is investigating an airliner that was [1]struck by an object in its windscreen, mid-flight, over Utah . "NTSB gathering radar, weather, flight recorder data," the federal agency [2]said on the social media site X. "Windscreen being sent to NTSB laboratories for examination." The strike occurred Thursday, during a United Airlines flight from Denver to Los Angeles. [3]Images shared on social media showed that one of the two large windows at the front of a 737 MAX aircraft was significantly cracked. Related images also reveal a pilot's arm that has been cut multiple times by what appear to be small shards of glass.
>
> The captain of the flight [4]reportedly described the object that hit the plane as "space debris." This has not been confirmed, however. After the impact, the aircraft safely landed at Salt Lake City International Airport after being diverted. Images of the strike showed that an object made a forceful impact near the upper-right part of the window, showing damage to the metal frame. Because aircraft windows are multiple layers thick, with laminate in between, the window pane did not shatter completely. The aircraft was flying above 30,000 feet -- likely around 36,000 feet -- and the cockpit apparently maintained its cabin pressure.
[1] https://www.wired.com/story/mystery-space-object-strikes-united-airlines-flight-over-utah/
[2] https://x.com/ntsb_newsroom/status/1979962245703483461?s=43
[3] https://x.com/xJonNYC/status/1979220753380683943
[4] https://avbrief.com/united-max-hit-by-falling-object-at-36000-feet/
> The National Transportation Safety Board confirmed Sunday that it is investigating an airliner that was [1]struck by an object in its windscreen, mid-flight, over Utah . "NTSB gathering radar, weather, flight recorder data," the federal agency [2]said on the social media site X. "Windscreen being sent to NTSB laboratories for examination." The strike occurred Thursday, during a United Airlines flight from Denver to Los Angeles. [3]Images shared on social media showed that one of the two large windows at the front of a 737 MAX aircraft was significantly cracked. Related images also reveal a pilot's arm that has been cut multiple times by what appear to be small shards of glass.
>
> The captain of the flight [4]reportedly described the object that hit the plane as "space debris." This has not been confirmed, however. After the impact, the aircraft safely landed at Salt Lake City International Airport after being diverted. Images of the strike showed that an object made a forceful impact near the upper-right part of the window, showing damage to the metal frame. Because aircraft windows are multiple layers thick, with laminate in between, the window pane did not shatter completely. The aircraft was flying above 30,000 feet -- likely around 36,000 feet -- and the cockpit apparently maintained its cabin pressure.
[1] https://www.wired.com/story/mystery-space-object-strikes-united-airlines-flight-over-utah/
[2] https://x.com/ntsb_newsroom/status/1979962245703483461?s=43
[3] https://x.com/xJonNYC/status/1979220753380683943
[4] https://avbrief.com/united-max-hit-by-falling-object-at-36000-feet/
nothing about from space in official reports (Score:2)
by caseih ( 160668 )
Near as I could tell the idea that this was something from space originated from a random Twitter post by someone who claimed to know someone who was on the flight (but obviously not in the cockpit). Scott Manley covered this pretty thoroughly on his space oriented YouTube channel. But the plane definitely hit something and if it had been hit in slightly a different spot it might have killed a pilot. So serious stuff.
Re: (Score:2)
by backslashdot ( 95548 )
It was a weather balloon, pretty much confirmed.
Shut down the trash compactors on detention level (Score:2)
by h33t l4x0r ( 4107715 )
Come on, Elon.
weather balloon (Score:3)
[1]https://fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/... [fosstodon.org]
[1] https://fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/115410025095722538
Re: weather balloon (Score:2)
Story is not sexy enough to be noticed :-(