NASA has revealed that the hunk of space debris that fell on a walking trail in the US belongs to a recently launched SpaceX capsule.
The debris, found near a mountain resort in North Carolina, was supposed to burn up entirely as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere.
The capsule delivered four astronauts to the International Space Station last summer and brought them back on 12 March 2024.
However, parts of capsule that were expelled while bringing the astronauts home have crashed to Earth, going against Nasa's initial projections.
The largest piece of debris, discovered on 22 May, was about the size of a standard car hood or bonnet.
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Several smaller pieces have also been found in residents' back gardens throughout the region, according to local media reports.
The US space agency confirmed the pieces of debris are remnants of SpaceX Crew Dragon hardware that re-entered the atmosphere in May 2024.
Nasa added that more debris from the Dragon capsule had fallen over Saudi Arabia.
"SpaceX has confirmed the re-entry of Dragon spacecraft trunk hardware to Nasa following its service missions to the International Space Station," the agency said in a statement to Western North Carolina journalist Justin Berger, who posted the response on X.
"Most recently, the trunks that supported SpaceX's 30th commercial services resupply and Crew-7 mission re-entered over Saudi Arabia and North Carolina respectively."
The space agency said it is currently "unaware" of any damage to buildings or injuries from these items of incoming space debris.
However, industry chiefs worldwide have voiced grave concern over the increasing number of cosmic junk that is smashing into Earth.
In 2022, 'alien like' trunk debris from SpaceX's Crew-1 was discovered by a farmer in Australia, New South Wales.
The trunk refers to an unpressurised section of the capsule that contains hardware for power and cooling.
Nasa stated there is another trunk currently in orbit from the Crew-8 visit to the ISS, which is expected to "return" later this summer.
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It's unclear whether it will burn up in the atmosphere or whether chunks of it will survive in the plunge back to Earth.
Astronomer Jonathan McDowell, who tracks space launches and debris findings, suggests the trunk is more likely to survive re-entry that other capsule parts.
McDowell wrote on X: "The discovery of @SpaceX Dragon trunk debris from the Crew-7 mission in North Carolina, following debris from the Ax-3 trunk in Saskatchewan and from the Crew-1 trunk in Australia, makes it clear that the materials from the trunk regularly survive re-entry in large chunks."
In its statement, Nasa admitted that its evaluations aren't perfect and that the agency needs to improve its debris modeling.
"During it's initial design, the Dragon spacecraft trunk was evaluated for re-entry breakup and was predicted to burn up fully, the agency wrote.
"Nasa and SpaceX will continue exploring additional solutions as we learn from the discovered debris."
