A Florida family is suing NASA after space debris struck their home.

The International Space Station's robotic arm can be seen releasing a pallet full of batteries in 2021. NASA says it was a metal alloy strut from the flying device that fell on a Florida home.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

A Florida family is suing NASA, alleging that a piece of metallic space debris owned by NASA fell to Earth earlier this year, crashing through their Naples home and blowing a hole in the roof.

The March incident was a surprising and rare instance of a man-made object returning to Earth's surface intact from orbit and falling into a populated area, raising questions about who should be held responsible if space junk causes damage on Earth.

“Due to the recent increase in space traffic, space debris has become a real and serious problem,” Micah Nguyen-Worthy, the family's lawyer, said in a statement. “My clients are seeking full compensation for the stress and impact this event has had on their lives.”

Worthy noted that the homeowner, Alejandro Otero's 19-year-old son, was inside the home at the time of the crash but was unharmed because he was just a few rooms away from the crash. While he's thankful that no one was physically injured in this accident, a near-miss like this could have had tragic consequences.

The lawsuit against NASA, filed last month, seeks damages including uninsured property damage, emotional distress and other damages.

NASA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The “space object” recovered from the Oteros family home was linked to an operation that took place aboard the International Space Station in March 2021, the agency said in an April blog post.

At the time, NASA expected to release a 5,800-pound cargo pallet loaded with old nickel-metal hydride batteries, which would orbit Earth for two to four years before burning up in the atmosphere.

But the agency said it believes the object that fell in Florida was a 1.6-pound metal alloy strut from a NASA flight support system.

NASA said in April that it would continue to operate responsibly in low-Earth orbit and, if it needs to release space equipment, would mitigate risks as much as possible to protect people on Earth.

Worthy said NASA would also be held responsible for damage caused by its space debris in other countries under an international agreement known as the Space Liability Treaty.

But space law expert Mark Sandahl told NPR in April that the law is unclear if NASA-owned material lands on U.S. territory, and that it becomes a matter of domestic law.

Copyright 2024 NPR

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