NASA Says The 'Mysterious Object' That Hit Florida Man's House Came From Space Station

A mysterious object that crashed on the roof of an American man’s home last month has been confirmed to be a hunk of debris ejected from the International Space Station, the space agency NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) confirmed in a blog post on Monday.

On March 8, 2024, a mysterious object crashed through the roof of Alejandro Otero’s home in Naples, Florida. Otero took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to describe the incident stating the object ‘tore through the roof and went through two floors’ of his house, almost hitting his son.

“Hello. Looks like one of those pieces missed Ft Myers and landed in my house in Naples. Tore through the roof and went thru 2 floors. Almost his my son. Can you please assist with getting NASA to connect with me? I’ve left messages and emails without a response,” Otero wrote in the post.

NASA which subsequently collected the object from Otero for analysis admitted that the object weighing 1.6 pounds (700 grams) was discarded by the International Space Station in March 2021.

“In March 2021, NASA ground controllers used the International Space Station’s robotic arm to release a cargo pallet containing ageing nickel hydride batteries from the space station following the delivery and installation of new lithium-ion batteries as part of power upgrades on the orbital outpost. The total mass of the hardware released from the space station was about 5,800 pounds,” the space agency detailed in a blog post.

Despite expectations that the hardware released from the space station would fully burn up during re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere on March 8, 2024, a piece survived and impacted Otero’s house in Florida.

“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. The object is made of the metal alloy Inconel, weighs 1.6 pounds, is 4 inches in height and 1.6 inches in diameter,” the agency confirmed.

The US space agency also vowed to investigate how the debris managed to survive re-entry without being fully destroyed in the atmosphere.

“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 said.

Space objects colliding with Earth have been numerous. Last year, a woman was hit by a small meteorite while she was enjoying a cup of coffee on her terrace. The incident took place in the Schirmeck district of northeastern France.