
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, October 29, 1993                   TAG: 9310290021
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

SATELLITE CHUNK HITS ONLY WATER

A 2-ton chunk of Chinese satellite plunged back into the atmosphere Thursday, took a 1,000-mile detour, and dropped into the Pacific Ocean west of Peru.

Until the last moments, trackers at the U.S. Space Command expected the satellite to drop into the Pacific 500 miles west of the Baja California peninsula along the Tropic of Cancer.

"It skipped 1,000 miles south," said Maj. Bob Butt.

Space debris traveling 17,000 mph takes unpredictable twists and turns when it brakes in the thickening atmosphere. Butt likened the effect to dropping a penny into water.

He said there were no immediate reports that the falling spacecraft had been sighted by anyone. It was daylight over the Pacific at the time.

by CNB