A two-story apartment block in Russia’s Altai Region of South Siberia was apparently struck on Thursday night by debris a that had fallen off a booster rocket that was used to carry a spacecraft destined for the International Space Station (ISS). Residents said that they were alerted by two loud cracks and then the sound of something hitting the roof. Rescuers called to the scene found a one foot by four foot piece of metal, which was established to have come from a rocket launched at the Baikonur launching pad at 22:37 Moscow time.

Or did it? Russia’s Space Agency suggested that the residents might have simply been seeking compensation, and could have carried the metal onto the roof of the apartment building themselves. A spokesperson for the Space Agency explained:

There is only one fragment and the house is not within the calculated area of possible debris fallout. In any case, there are no casualties or material damage, according to our information.

The rocket was carrying a Progress-M-02M cargo spacecraft to the ISS. [Digg]

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