A Florida homeowner got a shocking surprise when a piece of metal dropped from the International Space Station crashed into his home in March.
On Monday, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration confirmed that the space station was the source of the debris.
Debris “ripped the roof” off Alejandro Otero’s home on March 8, traveling through two floors and nearly hitting his son, the Naples resident said in a statement. Post from March 15 on X.
A month later, NASA issued a public statement taking responsibility.
“The material was expected to burn completely upon entry into Earth’s atmosphere,” NASA said. “However, one piece of hardware survived re-entry and hit a house.”
The remaining debris, a pole, weighs 1.6 pounds, NASA said. Item measures 4 inches tall and 1.6 inches wide.
An outer pallet full of old nickel-hydrogen batteries is released from the Canadarm2 robotic arm as the International Space Station orbits 260 miles above the Pacific Ocean west of Central America.
(NASA)
Growing amounts of space debris — driven by an explosion in the number of satellites launched into low-Earth orbit in recent years — have raised concerns among satellite operators and sometimes threatened to harm people on Earth.
Chinese space debris lit up the skies over Southern California earlier this month. Last March, debris from the International Space Station crashed back to Earth and shocked spectators in Sacramento.
The space station itself had to close and then reopen several compartments several times in November 2021 when space debris got too close for comfort.
As the prevalence of space debris increases, Smithsonian astronomer Jonathan McDowell told the Times last year, the chances that such debris could hit people or critical infrastructure also increase, although those chances remain low.
He said he would like to see more safety precautions taken by teams launching such equipment, especially when the debris could contain larger pieces.
“NASA remains committed to operating responsibly in low Earth orbit and mitigating as many risks as possible to protect people on Earth when space hardware must be released,” the agency said in a statement.
Times staff writer Grace Toohey contributed to this report.
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