About 20 years ago I was in the Gander area eastbound at night when a large chunk of space debris entered the atmosphere. It was still burning as it went through our level off the left wingtip.
It did look quite close and lots of other aircraft also saw it. Interestingly, a TWA guy swore that it had just missed him and he was 20 miles closer to it than we were.
I've often wondered exactly just how far away it really was.