it seems late Feb, early March is the timeline for re-entry. I doubt if they can really give any kind of accurate estimate of the location of crash sites until closer to the actual date.

I find it very interesting that FEMA and Homeland Security are also involved in this upcoming crash of a Spy satellite.

thanks guys, I figured if it had changed we would be one of the first ones to talk about it.

Being that the story is MSM now, you have every soccer mom, cashier, postal worker making small talk about it and of course it changes each time.

does anybody have a picture of this comming down?

Strangely enough, nothing on google images

Yea i herd on the news today that the satelite is supposedly the size of a bus and that it could hit land insted of the water and also they are keeping things quiet...but why?

Reminds me of that movie Space Cowboys with Eastwood and the clique

Originally posted by themaster1
Reminds me of that movie Space Cowboys with Eastwood and the clique

Yeah it does!

My bet is that it will re-enter the earth but it would be ironic if the thing landed on the launch pad it came from!

That object in that image can be anything, how can you prove it's the alleged satellite? For all we know it can be anything even an alien object (you can use your imagination here) that the US is claiming theirs just to reassure people and make sure it falls in their hands.

I saw this on Fox 6 News this morning in Milwaukee. The news anchor said the same thing as the OP pretty much, but also said ''Don't worry though, it won't land on your house... most of the Earth is made up of water''. lol

[edit on 30-1-2008 by And1balla2829]

I've been following this thread for a little while now to see if anything interesting would

pop up. Not suprising that there isn't much in the way of facts regarding the satellite

"NROL 21". The satellite is after all a "classified military satellite".

What we do know is that the satellite belongs to the United States.
We also know that the operator is the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).
We also know that the contractor was Lockheed Martin.
We also know that the orbit was designated at 353 km x 380 km, 58.5°.
We also know that the launch site was Vandenberg (Va SLC-2W).
We also know that the launcher was Delta-7920-10C on 14.12.2006
We also know that the satellite was reported at 10 S/T (Standard Ton or US Simple Ton{that always cracks me up US Simple Ton}). About the size of a small bus.
We also know that the satellite is reported to contain Hydrazine (rocket fuel), which stands to reason as satellites have maneuvering thrusters.
We also know that in August 2007 the satellite was declared a complete loss and allowed (not by choice) to decay from orbit.
We also know that the "official" designation placed on the satellite is "Experimental Radar".

Other than the ^above^ "knowns" all else is pretty much speculation. The fact is that even the name NROL 21(USA193) would be a cover name. The Military is not in the habit of telling people all about their "classified" projects so why would they start now. The only thing that makes this satellite stand out is the fact that they can't follow the standard controlled oceanic recovery protocol for all classified military atmospheric re-entry projects.

My best guess as to what will happen when it comes down is this:

1. The satellite will make a favorable ocean splash down and the debris will be collected as per usual.
2. The satellite will make a favorable US continental crash landing in a non-populated area and the debris will be collected as per usual.
3. The satellite will vector unfavorably and be blown to tiny bits by an interception type missile..."Did you hear a loud bang? Must have been the neighbours cat again..."

One thing is for certain, the satellite will disappear in the usual manner in which the Military is so well practiced.