Flood waters wash up a rocket in Siberia

Residents of Malo-Urgenevo village were evacuated when due to chronic flooding which turned the place into a lake. When they returned they found what they suspected was part of a space rocket beached in their community. Investigators and technical experts were called in to try to identify the strange object and determine if it posed a danger. 

Alexei Yaskin, professor of aero-space engineering at Biisk Technology University, said: 'This looks like the first stage, judging by its size. Its diameter is approximately 2.4 metres and length about 7 metres. 

'In order to identify which type of destroyed rocket it belonged to, we need to come closer to its shell. But there is no such option at the moment.'

So was it a rocket that had fallen out of the sky?

Locals have done their own research and come to a different conclusion. Sergey Ill, who posted these pictures on his Facebook page, said: 'This is the thing that floods brought to the village of Malo-Urgenevo. 'It looks like a space rocket. But officials say after launches that they pick-up and de-activate all their parts.'

Others say that the unexpected guest was, in fact, decommissioned long ago and was used for unexplained 'household purposes' in another village. 

Nikolay Dochilov, deputy chief of the Federal Scientific and Manufacturing Centre 'Altai' told Itar-Tass the rocket part was made of carbon fibre-reinforced polymer. 'It is a legacy of of an enterprise closed at the beginning of the 1990s that specialised in filling the shells with fuel,' he said.

'We did had an enterprise that specialised in filling those missiles, which were produced at Dnepropetrovsk in Ukraine. The rockets were decommissioned in 1992-93 and then scrapped. Several of the shells were left, but since they were never filled with fuel they were safe and people took them home.'

The rocket became dislodged by the swelling water and floated with the flood. 

'We sent a member of staff to go and double check that there is no danger, and he confirmed that this is just an empty shell that has never been filled with fuel and therefore is not dangerous. Nor is there any issue of secrecy here', explained Dochilov.

The rocket owner is now planning to collect his shell and return it to his garden.