When the European Space Agency's Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on Sept. 29 it made a spectacular sight, just like a meteor shower.

And that was exactly what interested NASA Ames Research Center scientist Peter Janniskens, who led an expedition of 30 researchers on two NASA aircraft to take a look.

They were flying on a DC-8 out of the Dryden Flight Research Center and a Gulfstream 5 from Ames.

Video was shot from the DC-8 at an altitude of 37,000 ft. about 90 miles north of the entry path. The DC-8 was headed toward the entry path so fragments were still visible when it was within 30 miles of them.

The breakup itself began at an altitude of about 47 miles and produced some 600 fragments of 22-44 lb. in mass. The debris field covered a 125 x 1,250 mi. corridor about 1,250 mi. east of New Zealand and 1,675 mi. south of French Polynesia.

The 13,400 lb. ATV's controlled destructive re-entry followed a six-month deployment to the International Space Station.

The video--a large, 43-meg file best suited for broadband--is available here at AviationWeek.com/extra.

Image: Screen grab from NASA/Ames Research Center video