On May 22, 2024, a landscape maintenance team working at The Glamping Collectivea luxury mountaintop resort near Asheville, in Haywood County, North Carolina, has discovered a mysterious object. NASA has confirmed that it is a piece of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, which reached the International Space Station (ISS) in 2023.
According to a report by Space.com, the largest fragment, about the size of a car hood and covered in a carbon-fiber weave, was found on a hiking trail. Other smaller fragments were found in the yards of nearby homes.
Other findings
According to ABC 13 in North Carolina, the recovered fragments are part of the Dragon’s trunk spacecraft hardware, which was expected to “burn up completely” during atmospheric reentry. However, some pieces did not disintegrate as expected.
In addition to the debris found in North Carolina, NASA reported that fragments of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule were also found in Canada in February and most recently in Saudi Arabia, coinciding with the discovery in the United States.
NASA said it is not aware of any structural damage or injuries resulting from these findings. Last March, a Florida family had a similar but much scarier experience. A 2.5-ounce metal object pierced the roof and two floors of their Naples home while a family member was inside. The homeowner, Alejandro Oterodescribed the incident on X:
The object penetrated “through the roof and two floors. It almost hit my son.
Their lawyer, Mica Nguyen Worthystressed that incidents like this “could be catastrophic.” He also said that space debris is a real and serious problem due to the increase in space traffic in recent years.
Safety and prevention measures
NASA said it has begun a detailed investigation to determine the cause of debris survival upon reentry and plans to update its models and analyses. The agency’s priority remains to operate responsibly in low-Earth orbit while minimizing risks to people on Earth.
Meanwhile, The Glamping Collective resort has decided to turn the accident into a tourist attraction, announcing that the space debris will be put on public display starting June 3.
In contrast, the Florida family has taken a more severe approach, filing a complaint against NASA. Attorney Worthy urged NASA and the U.S. government to follow the international legal principle of compensating for damages caused by space debris, whether the incident occurs at home or abroad. The agency declined to comment on pending lawsuits.
