# New Zealand has Spaceballs! (But no Mel Brooks!)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-zealand-has-spaceballs-but-no-mel-brooks/656803>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [April 26, 2013, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-zealand-has-spaceballs-but-no-mel-brooks/656803 "2013-04-26T23:36:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-zealand-has-spaceballs-but-no-mel-brooks/656803/1 "2013-04-26T23:36:56Z")

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The Spaceballs are crushing the Kiwis!  
[SPACEBALLS IMAGE](http://static.stuff.co.nz/1366954303/273/8601273.jpg)

> **[Stuff](https://www.stuff.co.nz/science/8601253/New-Zealand-space-balls-had-everyone-fooled)**

> [@](#):
>
> According to a message the embassy sent to the State Department in November 1978, an Ashburton milkman reported an object flying through the sky on October 23.
> 
> “John Lovett claims to have been in the paddock on October 22 and is certain the fragment, which was prominently located, was not in the paddock at that time.”
> 
> A second message from the embassy said it was “suspect” that the ball landed only eight kilometres south of where the 1972 balls landed.
> 
> “DSIR’s advice … that the sphere was a silicon-aluminium alloy with a melting point of less than 600 degrees caused doubt that a space object with such a low melting point could survive re-entry … even if shielded,” it said.
> 
> "The discovery of a second sphere on November 5, however, seems to increase the likelihood that the objects are indeed space fragments … "’

Instead, it was a prank. A prank that fooled NASA & the CIA.

Well done, you Spaceballs!