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Object that slammed into Florida home was space junk for ISS, NASA confirms

It was part of a pallet jettisoned along with 5,800 pounds of aging batteries back in March 2021.

Recovered stanchion from the NASA flight support equipment used to mount International Space Station batteries on a cargo pallet. The pallet and the batteries were expected to burn up completely in Earth's atmosphere, NASA officials said in today's update — yet that didn't happen, and the agency wants to learn why. For instance, the 23-ton core stages of China's powerful Long March 5B rocket routinely fall in an uncontrolled fashion a week or so after their launches, to the consternation of the international space community.

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