(MENAFN) NASA confirmed on Monday that an object that crashed into an American man's home was a piece of debris ejected from the International Space Station. The unusual incident came to light last month when Alejandro Otero of Naples, Florida, shared on social media that a metallic item had pierced through the roof of his house and passed through two floors, narrowly missing his son, on March 8.
The timing and location of the event closely aligned with official predictions for the atmospheric re-entry of a cargo pallet fragment containing old batteries that was discarded from the space station in 2021, leading space observers to conclude that it was likely the same object. NASA subsequently retrieved the item from Otero's home for further analysis.
In a recent blog post, NASA confirmed that the predictions regarding the origin of the debris were accurate, providing clarity to the mysterious incident.
"Based on the examination, the agency determined the debris to be a stanchion from the NASA flight support equipment used to mount the batteries on the cargo pallet," it stated.
"The object is made of the metal alloy Inconel, weighs 1.6 pounds (0.7 kilograms), is 4 inches (10 centimeters) in height and 1.6 inches in diameter."
The US space agency also committed to investigating how the debris managed to survive the atmospheric re-entry without being completely destroyed. NASA stated that it would conduct a thorough examination and update its engineering models based on the findings to better understand such occurrences in the future.
"NASA remains committed to responsibly operating in low Earth orbit, and mitigating as much risk as possible to protect people on Earth when space hardware must be released," it noted.
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