- Medios iraníes anuncian el deceso del presidente Raisi en accidente de helicóptero
- Lai asume como presidente de Taiwán y pide fin de "intimidación" de China
- España llama a consultas a su embajadora en Argentina y exige disculpas a Milei
- "Ninguna señal" de vida en helicóptero accidentado del presidente de Irán
- Presidente dominicano reelecto para un segundo mandato marcado por Haití
- Presidente dominicano lidera elecciones marcadas por la crisis de Haití
- Taiwán inviste a un presidente detestado por China
- Biden enfrenta protesta silenciosa por Gaza y promete a estudiantes trabajar por la paz en Oriente Medio
- Irán continúa su intensa búsqueda del presidente Raisi tras un accidente de helicóptero
- Kevin Costner vuelve al wéstern en Cannes, Serebrennikov a los fantasmas de Rusia
- El estreno de "Lula" de Oliver Stone en Cannes, un acto de adhesión al mandatario brasileño
- Al menos once muertos en bombardeos rusos en la región ucraniana de Járkov
- El barco que destruyó el puente de Baltimore será movilizado el lunes
- Manchester City hace historia, Arsenal vuelve a ser segundo
- Biden promete a estudiantes escuchar protestas por Gaza y trabajar por "paz duradera" en Oriente Medio
- Blue Origin lleva pasajeros al espacio, incluido el astronauta con más edad
- Blue Origin lleva al espacio a pasajeros tras dos años de pausa
- El presidente de Irán, ilocalizable tras un "accidente" de helicóptero
- Irán emprende búsquedas para encontrar el helicóptero del presidente Raisi tras "un accidente"
- Los bombardeos continúan en Gaza, emisario de EEUU en Israel
- Blue Origin lleva al espacio a aventureros tras dos años de pausa
- Manifestación contra el partido gobernante de Taiwán en víspera de la investidura
- Los bombardeos israelíes continúan en Gaza, Israel espera la llegada de un emisario de EEUU
NASA confirms space station debris hit Florida man's home
An object that crashed from the sky into an American man's home was a hunk of debris ejected from the International Space Station, NASA confirmed Monday.
The strange tale came to light last month when Alejandro Otero of Naples, Florida posted on X that a metallic item "tore through the roof and went (through) 2 floors" of his house, almost striking his son, on March 8.
It occurred at a time and location that closely matched official predictions for the atmospheric burn-up of a cargo pallet fragment carrying old batteries that was jettisoned from the orbital outpost in 2021, making it a likely match, according to space watchers.
NASA, which subsequently collected the object from Otero for analysis, confirmed in a new blog post that the predictions were true.
"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 said.
"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 pledged to investigate how the debris survived being fully destroyed in the atmosphere, adding it would update its engineering models accordingly.
"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.
A report by specialist news outlet Ars Technica last month said that while the batteries were owned by NASA, they were attached to a pallet structure launched by Japan's space agency -- potentially complicating liability claims.
Past examples of manmade human space debris hitting Earth include part of a SpaceX Dragon capsule landing on an Australian sheep farm in 2022. Skylab, the United States' first space station, fell on Western Australia.
More recently, China has been criticized by NASA for allowing its giant Long March rockets to fall back to Earth after orbit.
S.Keller--BTB