ISS: Old part of space station lands on family home - but all is well

There's been lots of storms at the moment, but one family in America has had something come down from the sky that's truly out-of-this-world.

Last month, a mysterious metal object fell through the roof of Alejandro Otero's home in Florida.

Nasa has now confirmed the object was a bit of old equipment from the International Space Station (ISS)!

But don't worry about this happening to you anytime soon.

According to space research and development company Aerospace, the chances of being struck by an object from space are one in a trillion depending on where you live.

This story goes all the way back to March 2021, when Nasa released some old batteries from the ISS that were no longer needed.

Nasa say that they fully expected this space junk, weighing over a whopping 2,600kg (5,500lbs), to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.

But clearly one part got away!

This chunk of equipment that fell on Alejandro's home in 2024 was a tiny 10cm metal cylinder weighing less than one kilogram, but it still made quite an impact when it landed.

Nasa's experts managed to work out that the metal object was used as a support for holding the old batteries in transport.

The ISS is a satellite orbiting the Earth. It's a base for scientists and astronauts from a number of different countries around the world.

Together they carry out experiments to learn more about living and working in space.

The ISS was built in space, starting in 1998, with more and more modules - different parts of the station - being added ever since.

It's been in orbit for over 20 years, and Nasa plans to retire (or 'deorbit') the ISS after 2030.

While Nasa says the chance of falling space debris causing harm to humans on Earth is very small, there is a growing number of objects in Earth's low orbit which is presenting another problem for scientists.

According to stats from Our World in Data, 2023 was the biggest year for launches, with a total of 2,664 objects sent into space.

The BBC's Sky at Night says that the ISS has had to reposition itself 30 times since it began operation to avoid collisions with space junk - like old and broken satellites - in the Earth's orbit.

Scientists are researching ways to tackle the problem., including big magnets or claws that can collect pieces of junk.