The batteries failed to fully burn up during atmospheric re-entry. Instead, at least one part survived and hit a home in Naples, Florida, a NASA investigation confirms.
A wad of space junk that was supposed to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere instead hit a Florida man’s home, a NASA investigation has found.
NASA examined the recovered debris and confirmed today that it belonged to a batch of expired batteries released by the International Space Station into Earth’s orbit in 2021.
Last month, the 5,800 pounds of nickel hydride batteries finally plummeted back to Earth. Although NASA originally expected the space junk to disintegrate in the atmosphere, it turns out the batteries were so big that at least one part survived reentry.
