Mystery debris found on North Carolina trail came from SpaceX craft, NASA confirms

The metallic and almost hairy-looking objects appeared one day in western North Carolina, puzzling residents who came across the debris.

NASA has now confirmed the objects came from the trunk of a SpaceX Dragon rocket.

Groundskeepers in Haywood County stumbled across a large piece of debris on May 22, according to The Glamping Collective.

“We don’t know what it is, we just know it’s not from up here,” Justin Clontz told WLOS at the time he and a friend made the discovery.

He called it a “one-in-a-million” chance that it landed on the trail where someone could find it, as opposed to in the woods where it could have gone undiscovered.

But another local discovered a piece of spacecraft as well when it hit his roof and ended up in his yard, he told WLOS.

“At first glance it looked like a dead crow had flown into my house and fell there,” Mike Wooten told the outlet. “But I came down and I took a stick to poke it and I realized it wasn’t a crow of course.”

The piece that hit his Macon County home was smaller than the one found on the trail. Clontz said he had to tow the bigger piece, which appeared to be several feet tall, with a lawnmower.

The pieces appear to be bolt-studded metal plates interwoven with fibers.

The objects that ended up in North Carolina were supposed to fully burn up in the atmosphere, NASA said in a statement.

“Most recently, the trunks that supported SpaceX’s 30th commercial services resupply and Crew-7 missions re-entered over Saudi Arabia and North Carolina respectively,” the agency said. “NASA is unaware of any structural damage or injuries resulting from these findings.”

The trunk, containing cooling systems and hardware for powering the flight, is supposed to separate from the rest of the spacecraft and disintegrate in the atmosphere, according to NASA. The more durable component of the spacecraft uses parachutes to splash down on Earth.

The debris found on The Glamping Collective’s property is on display at the trailhead where it was found, the company said.

NASA advises anyone who finds space debris not to handle it and instead contact the SpaceX Debris Hotline at 1-866-623-0234 or at recovery@spacex.com.

This story was originally published June 21, 2024 at 5:53 PM with the headline "Mystery debris found on North Carolina trail came from SpaceX craft, NASA confirms."