Wait a second. They predicted (before it even entered atmosphere) where it was coming down with such a precision that you could not just go out and photograph it, but even go and collect remains? I thought this was barely possible if you have a radar that is actively tracking it through the last stages of the atmosphere, while for anything still in orbit you'd be lucky to guess the correct country.

The things in earth orbit have a very small angle of entry. I'd expect that if the angle is bigger, the deflection from the atmosphere would be smaller (if it survives the hit).