Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments
Search

News for nerds, stuff that matters

Slashdot Log In

Log In

Create Account  |  Retrieve Password

Russian Rocket Hits Wyoming

Posted by CowboyNeal on Thu Jan 04, 2007 09:05 PM
from the slightly-off-course dept.
Space Science
Harmonious Botch wrote in with a CNN story that opens: "A spent Russian booster rocket re-entered the atmosphere Thursday over Colorado and Wyoming, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said. NORAD spokesman Sean Kelly said the agency was trying to confirm a report that a piece of the rocket may have hit the ground near Riverton, Wyoming, at about 6 a.m. Kelly said military personnel had not yet reached the scene. No damage was reported and the debris was not believed to be hazardous, NORAD said. Eyewitnesses reported seeing flaming objects in the sky at the time the rocket was re-entering, Kelly said."
+ -
story
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

Russian Rocket Hits Wyoming 50 Comments More /

 Full
 Abbreviated
 Hidden
More
Loading... please wait.

  • In Soviet Russia... (Score:5, Funny)

    by PurifyYourMind (776223) on Thursday January 04 2007, @09:07PM (#17468462) Homepage
    Wyoming hits rocket!

  • hmmm... (Score:5, Funny)

    by User 956 (568564) on Thursday January 04 2007, @09:07PM (#17468466) Homepage
    No damage was reported and the debris was not believed to be hazardous, NORAD said. Eyewitnesses reported seeing flaming objects in the sky at the time the rocket was re-entering, Kelly said.

    Are they sure it wasn't just a weather balloon, or maybe some swamp gas?

  • Most misleading headline ever? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by RexHowland (71795) on Thursday January 04 2007, @09:07PM (#17468468)
    For what the story is...

    The headline sort of makes you think of a Cold-War Russian rocket attack.

    At least, it made me think that. -- And I'd already heard about the story.

    • How is it misleading? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2007, @09:12PM (#17468506)
      The title is: "Russian Rocket Hits Wyoming". Now let us see if it is in any way misleading.

      "Russian": The rocket is Russian. Nothing misleading here.

      "Rocket": The object in question is indeed the remains of a rocket. Nothing misleading here.

      "Hits": The rocket did indeed crash into the ground in Wyoming. It "hit" Wyoming, if you will. Nothing misleading here.

      "Wyoming": The location of the rocket crash was Wyoming. Nothing misleading here.

      I'm not sure how you justify your claim of the title being misleading. Every word in the sentence is correct and factual. The sentence as a whole is also completely correct.

      • Re:How is it misleading? (Score:5, Informative)

        by RexHowland (71795) on Thursday January 04 2007, @09:22PM (#17468596)
        I think the key word is "hits," as opposed to "falls in," or "lands in."

        If you shoot an arrow, and the arrow "hits" the apple, you worry that something might have happened to the apple.

        If you shoot an arrow, and it "lands in" the forest... -- You're probably not too concerned for the forest.

        Maybe I'm just a stickler. -- I think it could be easily misunderstood, though.

        • Re:How is it misleading? (Score:5, Funny)

          by megrims (839585) on Thursday January 04 2007, @10:02PM (#17468950)
          I don't know.
          What if the arrow "lands in" your eye, for example?

          It's probably justified to be concerned for the state of an apple that an arrow lands in. Changing the victim to a forest is misleading.

          Of course the differing connotations of the two terms make it all a big mess anyway. Landing in terms of missiles gives a different impression than it would with a bullet or a loosed arrow.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by GimliGloin (642963)
            Agreed... A better way of putting it is that the term "hits" implies that the Russians were "aiming" for us. The term "falls in" implies that it was a mistake which is what it was...

            John

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by davester666 (731373)
            I believe the implication is that the rocket 'landing' in Wyoming is like landing in the forest. There's nothing in Wyomin to 'hit'. :-)
        • "Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down
          That's not my department," says Wernher von Braun

      • Re:How is it misleading? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by MyLongNickName (822545) on Thursday January 04 2007, @09:25PM (#17468626) Journal
        "Anonymous coward will not stop molesting badgers"

        Since the Anonymous coward never molested badgers in the first place, the above headline is correct. Simply because something is technically correct does not mean it is misleading. You might want to look at the difference between "mislead" and "lie" in the dictionary. Kind of reminds me of the RNC fund raising letter where "Bush cuts deficit 40% in two years". Factually correct, but does not mention that Bush caused the deficit in the first place.

        • Re:How is it misleading? (Score:5, Funny)

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2007, @09:50PM (#17468836)
          Since the Anonymous coward never molested badgers in the first place

          Speak for yourself there, buddy. I'm proud of my family traditions.
      • Misleading does not necessarily involve actual falsehood. In fact, that's pretty much why we use the word "Misleading" instead of "Deceiving." To differentiate between outright fraud and the most dangerous of all lies: the one your victim tells himself.

        For instance, When President Clinton went on national television and told an audience, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky," while shaking his hand at an elderly woman in the front row, it was obvious to any observer that he was

      • Re:How is it misleading? (Score:5, Funny)

        by Holmwood (899130) on Friday January 05 2007, @02:09AM (#17470454)
        Now a misleading headline would have been "As Democrats Take Power, Russian Rocket Hits USA".

        Hmmm. Let me go check Fox News.

        Holmwood.

        • Re:How is it misleading? (Score:5, Insightful)

          by dgatwood (11270) on Thursday January 04 2007, @11:57PM (#17469734) Journal

          The truly misleading word here is not "hit". The misleading word is "rocket". Had it said "rocket fragment", it would not have been misleading or particularly sensationalized to say that it hit Wyoming. In much the same way, saying "a busload of thirty people died today" is not the same thing as saying "the driver of a busload of thirty people killed himself today". :-)

          Could be worse. It could have said "Russian rocket explodes over Wyoming."

    • Sorry.

  • Sensationalist title or what!? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by syousef (465911) on Thursday January 04 2007, @09:11PM (#17468496) Journal
    Come on. Try Russian space debris hits...not rocket. It hasn't been (part of) a rocket in some time...

    Oh wait, that'd actually be good journalism. Can't have that.

  • Dupe! (Score:5, Funny)

    by naoursla (99850) on Thursday January 04 2007, @09:15PM (#17468530) Homepage Journal
    This is just a cover for the UFO story posted on slashdot the other day.

  • Poor Aim (Score:5, Funny)

    by edwardpickman (965122) on Thursday January 04 2007, @09:16PM (#17468534)
    Today President Bush responded to the space attack by launching a counter attack on Boswanna. The Boswannan space program being seen as a threat to national security. He's also considering attacking the Moon for the unprovoked attack by Martian meteors on Antarctica thousands of years ago.
    • ... President Bush also sited secret evidence that conclusively proves the existence of Boswanna's dihydrogen monoxide enrichment program, though the country still claims these facilities are only used for humanitarian purposes ...

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by PeelBoy (34769)
        Wish I didn't already respond to this article because I still have mod points. The GP was kind of funny just because I can laugh at that kind of thing but the whole bush went to war because of oil thing is obviously (to anybody who has half a clue?) bull shit.. Let me know when the extra oil starts rolling in I'm looking forward to the day because then atleast we could fucking say we got SOMETHING out of the deal.. Don't you think?!

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by edwardpickman (965122)
          You missed the point with Iraq. It was never about getting our hands on more oil it was about controlling oil. Notice that years later oil is still flowing at a trickle when it was supposed to pay to rebuild Iraq. It was about restricting oil to drive up prices. Oil won't flow so long as the US is in control. I'm an american and this isn't paranoia it's a simple fact. The oil ministry was the only governmental office protected yet four years after the war was declared over the oil industry in Iraq ia at a n

  • Video from Denver news station (Score:5, Informative)

    by theinfobox (188897) on Thursday January 04 2007, @09:17PM (#17468546) Homepage Journal
    Here is video taken by a local news crew this morning: ABC 7 [thedenverchannel.com] Note: They use an embedded Windows Media Player.

  • In other news Wyoming high schoolers unite.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Bamafan77 (565893) on Thursday January 04 2007, @09:17PM (#17468548)
    Wyoming High School students unite to fend off Russian invasion. Fortunately, Hollywood has taught us exactly how to deal with such things.

  • Saw video on the news (Score:4, Informative)

    by Iphtashu Fitz (263795) on Thursday January 04 2007, @09:18PM (#17468550)
    Somebody got some really good video footage of this thing breaking up in the atmosphere. It was a series of streaks of fire against a dark sky. Probably just a matter of time before it starts showing up on youtube, etc.

  • "...No damage was reported..." (Score:5, Funny)

    by NoseBag (243097) on Thursday January 04 2007, @09:18PM (#17468554)
    "...No damage was reported..."

    Well, duh! It's Wyoming, fer christsake.

  • Home on the Range (Score:5, Funny)

    by MillionthMonkey (240664) on Thursday January 04 2007, @09:18PM (#17468556)
    Oh give me a home
    Where the buffalo roam
    And the deer and the antelope play

    Where seldom is heard
    a discouraging word
    and the skies are not full of spent Russian booster rockets

  • More info (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2007, @09:18PM (#17468558)
    From Spaceweather.com

    Something from space disintegrated over Denver, Colorado, this morning around 6:20 am MST (1320 UT). Witnesses describe it as "brilliant, slow, twinkling, sparkly and full of rainbow colors." It was not a meteor. The fireball was the decaying body of a Soyuz U rocket that launched the French COROT space telescope on Dec. 27th. The re-entry caused no damage on the ground--just a beautiful display in the sky.

  • Umm... link to video? (Score:5, Informative)

    by lpangelrob (714473) on Thursday January 04 2007, @09:19PM (#17468568)
    Link [google.com]. This story could use a visual. Clearly, as opposed to what the poster of the video would like us to think, it is not a UFO.

  • Video (Score:4, Informative)

    by Digitus1337 (671442) <lk_digitus@hotmai[ ]om ['l.c' in gap]> on Thursday January 04 2007, @09:20PM (#17468574) Homepage
    http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/ [myfoxcolorado.com]

  • Just remember, everyone... (Score:5, Funny)

    by dubdays (410710) on Thursday January 04 2007, @09:32PM (#17468684)
    ...duck and cover.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by dubdays (410710)
      Here's a link [wikipedia.org] for those of you who may not get it. I should have included it originally. Sorry.
  • Space Junk: Norad identifies Denver light as body of Russian rocket re-entering the atmosphere

    View [foxnews.com]

    • Re:Video showed on Fox News earlier (Score:4, Funny)

      by Sporkinum (655143) on Thursday January 04 2007, @10:24PM (#17469120)
      DEVO

      She was walking all alone
      Down the street in the alley
      Her name was sally
      She never saw it
      When she was hit by space junk
      In new york miami beach
      Heavy metal fell in cuba
      Angola saudi arabia
      On xmas eve said norad
      A soviet sputnik hit africa
      India venezuela (in texas
      Kansas)
      Its falling fast peru too
      It keeps coming
      And now Im mad about space junk
      Im all burned out about space junk
      Oooh walk & talk about space junk
      It smashed my babys head
      And now my sallys dead

  • red dawn (Score:3, Funny)

    by minus_273 (174041) <<moc.oohay.MAPS> <ta> <aaaaa>> on Thursday January 04 2007, @09:54PM (#17468874) Journal
    oh no! now only Patrick Swayze can save us like in that 80s documentary!

  • Dead Like Me (Score:4, Funny)

    by tekrat (242117) on Thursday January 04 2007, @09:57PM (#17468894) Homepage Journal
    I hope Ellen Muth wasn't in the area..
    (For reference, her character (George) was killed by a piece of debris from the de-orbiting of Mir)...

  • A better subject line... (Score:4, Funny)

    by dghcasp (459766) on Thursday January 04 2007, @09:59PM (#17468914)
    BREAKING NEWS:

    Extremely slow Soviet ICBM hits US one month after launch and over ten years after breakup of the Soviet Union.

    Film at 11

  • Putin called a news conference (Score:5, Funny)

    by JeanBaptiste (537955) on Thursday January 04 2007, @10:37PM (#17469214)
    My fellow Russians, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Wyoming forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.

  • missle defense system? (Score:3, Funny)

    by mabu (178417) on Thursday January 04 2007, @10:57PM (#17469348)
    So much for any notion of a warning system for missiles eh?

  • Russian Rocket Hits Wyoming (Score:3, Funny)

    by Amiga Trombone (592952) on Thursday January 04 2007, @11:46PM (#17469668)
    Wyoming?

    How did they know?

  • Good luck finding it now... (Score:4, Funny)

    by cjsnell (5825) on Friday January 05 2007, @12:12AM (#17469816) Journal
    It's been snowing like mad all day.

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest © 1997-2009 Geeknet, Inc.