Hugh Williams: The stunning fall of the Mir

Hugh Williams covers the Pacific for CNN out of Sydney, Australia. On Friday he was in Fiji watching for the falling Mir space station.

Hugh Williams: I'd been assigned to Fiji to monitor the progress of a private charter flight that has sent aircraft over the burn zone to film, from high altitude, the re-entry of the space ship, and I was not expecting to see the Mir space ship from our vantage point here in Fiji.

VIDEO CNN's Hugh Williams in Fiji describes to Miles O'Brien the sonic boom he heard as Mir passed overhead Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Hugh Williams in Fiji describes what he saw as Mir fell to Earth Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

I was setting myself up on the beach; I had a rough idea of the direction that Mir was projected to take over Fiji, and I got my camera set up and rolling. I got far more than I bargained for.

Q: How did it compare to other celestial events such as meteor showers? Was it on the horizon or high in the sky?

Williams: Basically, the bright lights started at the horizon, and I basically focused my camera towards it. It was a collection of four or five or six very bright glowing lights that started low on the horizon. It streaked overhead at about a 30- or 40-degree angle, moving at incredible speed but without any sound. I don't think that there's anything I've ever seen that resembles that; the only thing close would be something from a sci-fi movie. It was like a giant golden hand streaking across the sky.

Q: Did it leave a trail that was obvious?

Williams: It did not leave an obvious trail. I believe it did not do that because it was still too bright outside to see it. It took only about a minute before it left my view, and it seemed to be traveling very low, and as I observed it, it was breaking apart. After about four or five minutes I noticed very distinct sonic booms, probably eight or nine sonic booms that would correspond to the eight or nine pieces of wreckage that were flying overhead.

We were all prepared for possibly seeing the Mir pass over. We didn't know if it would be a little dot very far up, but this was very dramatic because it felt and seemed very close to us, and at a very low altitude. The drama of seeing something shooting across the sky at such an incredible speed and with such intensity was quite stunning. It took my breath away, really. The tourists at the resort here were gasping and pointing, and some were videotaping with their cameras.

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