A Large Chunk of Rocket Space Debris Landed In Australia

Newsweek reports that "A huge piece of space debris appears to have fallen from the sky and landed on a sheep farm in Australia."On July 9, locals across the Snowy Mountains in southern New South Wales heard a bang, ABC Australia reported. It was heard for miles, by those as far away as Albury, Wagga Wagga and Canberra.... Sheep farmer Mick Miners then came across a strange, charred object on his ranch, south of Jindabyne, on July 25. "I didn't know what to think, I had no idea what it was," Miners told ABC Australia. He found the 10 foot chunk of metal wedged into the ground in a remote part of his sheep paddock. He was not the only one. His neighbor, Jock Wallace also found some strange debris in the area. "I didn't hear the bang, but my daughters said it was very loud," Wallace told ABC. "I think it's a concern, it's just fallen out of the sky. If it landed on your house it would make a hell of a mess." Serial numbers were noted on the charred, pieces of debris. Australian National University College of Science astrophysicist Brad Tucker told ABC News that the debris is likely from the trunk section of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. The spacecraft launched in 2020, and the debris may have fallen as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. Tucker told ABC that is may have been the largest piece of space debris to fall in Australia for decades - the last time was in 1979, when NASA's Skylab space station fell in Western Australia. Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader 192_kbps for sharing the article!

Read more of this story at Slashdot.