NEW YORK, April 20. /TASS/. No NASA satellites, including the RHESSI spacecraft, entered the atmosphere on Wednesday, Robert Margetta, a NASA public affairs officer, told TASS on Wednesday when asked to comment on Kiev authorities’ allegations that a NASA satellite had reentered the atmosphere over Kiev causing flashes of light.
"NASA’s RHESSI spacecraft remains in orbit, although its predicted reentry is approaching soon. NASA and the Department of Defense continue to track RHESSI. No other NASA satellite reentered the atmosphere earlier today," he said.
Earlier, witnesses told TASS that they had seen three bright flashes in the sky over Kiev. Later, chief of the Kiev city military administration Sergey Popko said that the flashes might have been caused by a NASA satellite reentering the atmosphere.
NASA said earlier that the RHESSI spacecraft was expected to reenter the atmosphere on April 19. The satellite was launched in 2002 to observe solar flares and coronary mass ejections. It was pulled out of operation in 2018. The 300-kilogram spacecraft is expected to reenter the atmosphere at 9:40 p.m. US East Coast Time (4:40 a.m. Moscow time) with an accuracy of three hours. The bulk of it is expected to burn in the atmosphere but some fragments may reach the surface.