UPDATE
Apr 15, 2024 6:35 PM CDT
That indeed was debris from the International Space Station that came crashing through the roof of a Florida home last month, NASA confirmed Monday after analyzing it. The agency identified the object as a metal support used to mount old batteries on a cargo pallet for disposal, the AP reports. The space station ejected the pallet in 2021, and the load was expected to burn up during entry into Earth's atmosphere. But this piece survived.
Apr 2, 2024 2:32 PM CDT
A 2-pound object that fell from way up yonder crashed through the roof of a home in Naples, Florida, and the best bet is that it came from the International Space Station. The cylindrical object slammed through the roof of Alejandro Otero's home about 2:30pm March 8, reports WINK News. "It was a tremendous sound," he tells the outlet. "It almost hit my son. He was two rooms over and heard it all."
The object is now in the hands of NASA given the circumstances, reports Ars Technica. It came down around the time the US Space Command logged a piece of debris from the ISS making reentry—and it was on a path for southwest Florida. The debris was still being analyzed. Assuming it's a match, Otero could file a claim against the federal government to repair the hole in his roof and floor, an expert in air and space law tells Ars Technica. See images posted by Otero here. (More International Space Station stories.)