Space X has released details of an accident which resulted in some of the debris from a Central Coast rocket launch ending up in Europe.
It started as a routine launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base February 1.
A Falcon 9 rocket carried 22 communications satellites into orbit. The reusable booster landed as planned on a barge off the West Coast.
What usually happens with the upper stage is that after it deploys its payload, it is guided to a remote, unpopulated area to burn up in the atmosphere. But, in this case, SpaceX officials say there was a small liquid oxygen leak.
They kept the upper stage in orbit to try to reduce the danger from a deorbit burn.
On February 19, it went into an uncontrolled re-entry which was widely seen in eastern Europe. Some of the debris crashed to earth in Poland. No one was hurt It ended up in an agricultural area.
SpaceX is working with the Polish government on cleanup efforts, and is conducting an investigation into what went wrong.
