Recovered space debris
Most reentering hardware burns up or sinks into the ocean. A small share reaches land and gets found. This is a sourced catalogue of debris that survived the fall, from a rocket fragment that brushed a woman in Oklahoma to a battery pallet that pierced a Florida roof.
| Object | Year | Found | What it was | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISS battery-pallet fragment (EP9) | 2024 | Naples, Florida, USA | A ≈0.7 kg Inconel stanchion | Punched through a roof; NASA confirmed the ISS origin. |
| SpaceX Crew Dragon trunk | 2022 | Dalgety, NSW, Australia | A charred composite trunk fragment | Found in a sheep paddock; the reentry path matched a Crew-1 trunk. |
| Long March 5B (Y3) stage debris | 2022 | West Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia | Metal rocket-stage fragments | Also found in Sarawak, Malaysia; no casualties reported. |
| Long March 5B (maiden) stage debris | 2020 | Bocanda region, Ivory Coast | Metal pipe and stage sections up to ≈12 m | Reportedly damaged buildings; linked to the booster by orbital analysis. |
| Space Shuttle Columbia debris | 2003 | East Texas and Louisiana, USA | Over 82,000 recovered pieces | About 38% of the orbiter's dry weight was found across a 2.3-million-acre search. |
| Delta II second-stage fragment | 1997 | Turley, Oklahoma, USA | A ≈16 g piece of blackened mesh | Brushed Lottie Williams on the shoulder: the only person known to be struck by space debris. |
| Kosmos 954 debris | 1978 | Northwest Territories, Canada | Twelve large pieces, ten of them radioactive | Scattered along a ≈600 km path; the USSR later paid Canada CA$3M. |
| Skylab debris | 1979 | Esperance, Western Australia | An oxygen tank and structural fragments | The Shire of Esperance famously fined NASA $400 for littering. |
Object names link to a source for each entry.
What tends to survive reentry
The pattern in the table is consistent. What reaches the ground is dense, heat-resistant, and often built to hold pressure. Titanium fuel tanks and stainless-steel pressure vessels ride out the heat that vaporizes aluminum structure higher up. The 2024 fragment that hit a house in Naples, Florida, was a stanchion of Inconel, a nickel alloy chosen precisely because it shrugs off heat. Rocket-stage sections survive because they are large and thick. Engineers estimate that 10 to 40 percent of a satellite's mass can reach the surface, with the exact figure set by how much tough material it carries. Our explainer on what happens during reentry covers the physics of why these parts last.
Who owns debris that lands
Space law is clearer here than most people expect. Under the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, a country keeps ownership of the objects it launches, even after they crash back to Earth. The 1972 Liability Convention makes the launching state liable for damage its space objects cause on the surface. That is why the Soviet Union paid Canada compensation after Kosmos 954 scattered radioactive debris across the Northwest Territories in 1978. A piece of a rocket that lands in your field is not yours to keep, and reporting it is the right and legal move.
How to report suspected debris
If you find something you think fell from orbit, treat it carefully. Surviving hardware can hold residual propellant, sharp edges, or, rarely, hazardous materials. Do not touch or move it. Photograph it, mark the location, and contact local police or your national space agency, who will coordinate with the operator to confirm the origin. Confirmation usually comes from matching the object to a tracked reentry and from the materials and markings on the piece itself.
Sources
- Per-entry sources are linked from each object name in the table above.
- NASA Orbital Debris Program Office, reentry and survivability
- UN Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects (1972)
Frequently asked questions
Has space debris ever hit a person?
Only once, and without injury. In 1997 a light fragment from a Delta II rocket brushed Lottie Williams in Oklahoma. She was unharmed, and she remains the only person known to have been touched by falling space debris.
What kind of space debris survives reentry?
Dense parts built to hold pressure or withstand engine heat survive most often: titanium and stainless-steel tanks, pressure vessels, engine components, and heat-resistant alloys such as Inconel. Lighter aluminum structure usually melts high in the atmosphere.
Who owns space debris that lands on my property?
Under the 1967 Outer Space Treaty and the 1972 Liability Convention, a launching state keeps ownership of its space objects and is liable for damage they cause on the ground. Do not handle suspected debris. Report it to local authorities, who coordinate with the space agency involved.
What should I do if I find suspected space debris?
Keep your distance, since surviving hardware can hold residual propellant or sharp edges. Photograph it, note the location, and contact local police or your national space agency. Do not move or keep it.