Remains of ‘Russian rocket’ flashes across Melbourne skies

A streak of light illuminated Melbourne’s night sky on Monday, 7 August.

The Australian Space Agency (ASA) said the mysterious flash was the probable remnants of a Russian rocket.

It was likely “a Russian Soyuz-2 rocket re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere” and bound for the ocean off the coast of Tasmania, the ASA added.

The rocket was meant to plunge into the Southern Ocean after launching a new navigation satellite but things didn’t quite go to plan, according to officials.

Monitoring will continue of the outcome of the debris re-entering Australia’s atmosphere, the ASA said.