Debris from SpaceX rocket located, recovered in Wash. state

GRANT COUNTY, Wash. - A portion of the SpaceX rocket that re-entered Earth's atmosphere last week in a dazzling light show has been discovered in Eastern Washington, officials said.

Kyle Foreman of the Grant County Sheriff's Office says the debris was a composite overwrapped pressure vessel that would have contained pressurized helium.

A property owner in southwest Grant County located the debris earlier in the week. The property owner notified the Grant County Sheriff's Office and deputies responded to the scene.

Sheriff's officials then contacted SpaceX about the discovery.

Foreman says a team from SpaceX responded to the scene and reclaimed the portion of the SpaceX rocket.

The piece of debris left a 4-inch-deep indentation in the ground where it landed. Foreman says it is the only piece of debris that has been called into the sheriff's office so far.

Thousands of people across the Pacific Northwest, including the Puget Sound region, witnessed the debris from a Falcon 9 rocket's second stage soar through the night sky on March 25.