An incident occurred where a piece of space debris pierced the roof of a house in the United States, prompting the family to file a lawsuit against NASA for damages.
According to The Guardian on the 22nd, the law firm Cranfill Sumner has announced that it filed a lawsuit on behalf of Alejandro Otero and his family, who live in Naples, Florida, seeking $80,000.
On March 8, a mysterious metal cylinder fell from the sky and struck Otero’s house. The cylinder, measuring 4 inches in diameter, 1.6 inches in height, and weighing 1.6 pounds, pierced through the roof and floor of the house. Fortunately, no one was injured, even though their son narrowly avoided being hit by the falling object.
NASA confirmed that the object, retrieved and analyzed at the Kennedy Space Center, was identified as a metal cylinder slab from a cargo pallet that had detached from the International Space Station (ISS) in 2021 and had subsequently drifted into space before crashing down.
As a result, Otero filed a lawsuit against NASA for damages due to uninsured property losses from the space debris impact, business disruptions, and psychological distress.
Mica Nguyen Worthy, Otero’s lawyer, pointed out, “We’re grateful no one was injured, but such incidents could have been catastrophic.” She further argued, “If the debris had fallen a few feet differently, it could have caused serious injuries or fatalities.” She emphasized the lawsuit by stating, “We aim to establish a precedent for compensating damage caused by space debris through this lawsuit.”
