--- title: Mystery Space Balls in Vietnam Investigated by Officials description: Military officials seized three mysterious metal balls after they reportedly fell from space and crash-landed in northern Vietnam canonical: https://time.com/4171336/mystery-space-balls-vietnam/ author: Lauren French article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-07T17:49:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:52:30.744Z article:section: Science og:title: Mysterious Balls Fall from Space in Vietnam og:description: Did they come from Russia? og:url: https://time.com/4171336/mystery-space-balls-vietnam/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mysterious Balls Fall from Space in Vietnam twitter:description: Did they come from Russia? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Mysterious Balls Fall From Space in Vietnam by [Lauren French](/author/lauren-french/) ## Lauren French Jan 7, 2016 5:49 PM CUT by [Lauren French](/author/lauren-french/) ## Lauren French Jan 7, 2016 5:49 PM CUT Military officials in Vietnam have seized three mysterious metal balls after they reportedly fell from space and crash-landed in the north of the country. Witnesses saw the three balls, ranging from a half pound to about 100 lbs., flying around before they crashed early Saturday morning, [CBC News reports](http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/vietnam-space-balls-1.3393229 "undefined"). The smallest landed on the roof of a house, while the largest landed away from residences in a maize field. Investigators have determined the objects are Russian-made, although they could have been sold to other countries for use. The objects were identified as specialized compressed air tanks potentially from a rocket. They don’t contain radioactive or explosive material. The metal balls are still intact. A professor from Vietnam’s State Space Science and Technology Program [told local media source VietnamNet Bridge](http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/society/149583/unidentified-objects-falling-from-the-sky-may-be-satellite-s-fuel-tank.html "undefined") this could mean they fell from less than about 60 miles, and might be the result of a failed satellite launch. \[[_CBC News_](http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/vietnam-space-balls-1.3393229 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4171336/mystery-space-balls-vietnam/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4171336/mystery-space-balls-vietnam/"},"headline":"Mysterious Balls Fall From Space in Vietnam","datePublished":"2016-01-07T17:49:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:52:30.744Z","description":"They're Russian-made","url":"https://time.com/4171336/mystery-space-balls-vietnam/","keywords":["Vietnam"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lauren French","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lauren-french/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4171336/mystery-space-balls-vietnam/","name":"Mysterious Balls Fall From Space in Vietnam"}}]}] ```