NASA confirms mysterious object that smashed through roof of house was space junk from ISS

A mystery object that crashed through the roof of a home in the United States last month has been confirmed as a chunk of space junk discarded from the International Space Station (ISS).

The cylindrical object that tore through the home in Naples, Florida on March 8 was subsequently taken to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral for analysis.

NASA confirmed on Monday that it was a metal support used to mount old batteries on a cargo pallet for disposal. 

The pallet was jettisoned from the space station in 2021, and the load was expected to eventually fully burn up on entry into Earth’s atmosphere, but one piece survived.

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The chunk of metal weighed 0.7 kg and was 10 cm tall and roughly 4 cm wide.

Homeowner, Alejandro Otero told local television station WINK at the time that he was on holiday when his son told him what had happened. 

Otero came home early to check on the house, finding the object had ripped through his ceiling and torn up the flooring.

"I was shaking. I was completely in disbelief. What are the chances of something landing on my house with such force to cause so much damage," Otero said. 

"I’m super grateful that nobody got hurt".