It was very similar to space shuttle Columbia’s breakup over Texas
Photo
Location
Address
Merritt Island, FL
Latitude
28° 26' 4.41'' N (28.434559°)
Longitude
80° 42' 29.53'' W (-80.708202°)
Elevation
1.974654m
Time and Duration
Local Date & Time
2025-11-08 06:15 EST
UT Date & Time
2025-11-08 11:15 UT
Duration
≈20s
Direction
Moving direction
From down left to up right
Descent Angle
46°
Moving
Facing azimuth
-
First azimuth
-
First elevation
61°
Last azimuth
-
Last elevation
-
Brightness and color
Stellar Magnitude
-12
Color
White
Concurrent Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
-
Delayed Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
-
Persistent train
Observation
Yes
Duration
45s
Length
5°
Remarks
NASA engineer here - It was something/some kind of spacecraft breaking up during reentry. Pieces were breaking off of it while reentering and those pieces created their own contrails. It was traveling NW to SE across Merritt island in an upward direction (from my vantage point but would technically be traveling downward)
Terminal flash
Observation
Unknown
Remarks
-
Fragmentation
Observation
Yes
Remarks
Larger item was shedding smaller pieces creating multiple contrails. Large item was traveling at a faster speed than the broke fragments
