NASA announced on Tuesday that it is investigating an object that crashed into a Florida man’s home, potentially originating from the International Space Station (ISS).
Alejandro Otero, residing in Naples, Florida, reported on social media that the object “tore through the roof and went (through) 2 floors” of his house on March 8, narrowly missing his son. He speculates that it could be a fragment of a cargo pallet containing old batteries released from the ISS in 2021.
According to Otero, the incident occurred around 2:34 pm local time, coinciding with the projected reentry time of the pallet over the Gulf, as estimated by the Space Force.
Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell noted the consistency of the timing with the reentry estimate, suggesting it could indeed be part of the EP-9 battery pallet.
The news was initially reported by winknews.com on March 15, sparking interest and concern. In response to inquiries, NASA stated that it has retrieved the object in cooperation with the homeowner and will analyze it at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The analysis aims to determine the object’s origin, with further information to be provided upon completion.
However, potential complications may arise regarding liability claims, as the batteries were owned by NASA but attached to a pallet structure launched by Japan’s space agency, according to a report by Ars Technica.
Instances of human-made space debris hitting Earth have occurred in the past, including a part of a SpaceX Dragon capsule landing on an Australian sheep farm in 2022 and the fall of Skylab, the United States’ first space station, on Western Australia.
China’s handling of its Long March rockets, criticized by NASA for allowing them to fall back to Earth after orbit, has also raised concerns regarding space debris.
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