Wants Space Agency to Pay for Damage

A homeowner in Naples, Florida, is suing NASA to have them pay for damages his house sustained when a piece of debris from the International Space Station (ISS) did not burn up in the atmosphere as it was planned to do.

A chunk of melted and partially disintegrated metal went through the roof and penetrated two floors below, according to Mica Nguyen Worthy, the attorney for homeowner Alejandro Otero and his family. Mr. Otero said the object nearly hit his son.

NASA examined the 1.6-pound cylindrical object and confirmed that it had in fact come from the ISS. The agency said it was a stanchion from the supporting structure that attached old nickel hydride batteries to a pallet. The entire load weighing 5,800 pounds was discarded from the space station in 2021 and was expected to burn up in the atmosphere, according to engineers. The load’s orbit gradually decayed and it finally entered the atmosphere earlier this year, but the piece that struck Otero’s house had somehow survived the intense heat of its plunge from space.

Ms. Worthy said, “Space debris is a real and serious issue because of the increase in space traffic in recent years. My clients are seeking adequate compensation to account for the stress and impact that this event had on their lives. They are grateful that no one sustained physical injuries from this incident, but a ‘near miss’ situation such as this could have been catastrophic. If the debris had hit a few feet in another direction, there could have been serious injury or a fatality.”

The International Space Station jettisons waste and spent materials from time to time and it is planned to burn up and disintegrate upon reentering the Earth’s atmosphere. Larger objects like spent booster rockets or other components of spacecraft or satellites at the end of their lifetimes will drift in orbit, sometimes for years and most of those also burn up when their orbits eventually decay and they burn up in the atmosphere. Occasionally, parts of the largest objects do survive the plunge, only to splash down in water or impact land in sparsely inhabited areas.

FMI: www.nasa.gov