A large chunk of space debris discovered last month on a mountain trail in Asheville, North Carolina, was confirmed by NASA to have come from a SpaceX capsule.
NASA shared last week that the debris found in May by an employee of The Glamping Collective belonged to a shuttle that made its journey to the International Space Station and returned on March 12.
The ship initially launched in August 2023 but returned in March after its six-month expedition at the space station.
The debris is around 3 feet in size and came from the “trunk” of a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule that carried four astronauts home to Earth from the ISS.
The trunk is at the base of the Dragon spacecraft, under where the astronauts sit, and is usually used to hold cargo.
According to SpaceX’s website , it is covered in solar panels that provide power “during flight and while on-station.”
The section of the vehicle is often detached shortly before the capsule re-enters Earth’s atmosphere, but NASA says the trunk is supposed to burn up fully.