Ten U.S. and 2 United Arab Emirates astronauts have just completed 2 years of training NASA confirmed on Monday that an object that crashed into a Naples, Florida, home last month was a piece of hardware from the International Space Station that was supposed to burn up on re-entry before reaching the surface of Earth. Alejandro Otero said a piece of equipment from the International Space Station hit his Naples home, posting photos of the object on X in response to an astronomer who was tracking where and when the equipment would enter the Earth's atmosphere. Otero told the astronomer it looked like one of the pieces had missed Fort Myers, and landed inside his home. "Tore through the roof and went thru 2 floors," he posted on X, adding that it almost hit his son. FLORIDA MAN SAYS SPACE OBJECT CRASHED INTO HIS HOUSE.

On March 8, a piece of space debris plunged through a roof in Naples, FL, ripped through two floors and (fortunately) missed the son of homeowner Alejandro Otero. On Tuesday, NASA confirmed the results of its analysis of the incident. As suspected, it's a piece of equipment dumped from the International Space Station (ISS) three years ago. NASA's investigation of the object at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral confirmed it was a piece of the EP-9 support equipment used to mount batteries onto a cargo pallet, which the ISS' robotic arm dropped on March 11, 2021. The haul, made up of discarded nickel-hydrogen batteries, was expected to orbit Earth between two to four years (it split the difference, lasting almost exactly three) "before burning up harmlessly in the atmosphere," as NASA predicted at the time.

Coolant leaks, space debris collisions and unplanned engine thrusts are just some of the unexpected challenges astronauts aboard the International Space Station must overcome. NASA is investigating an object that a Florida resident says came from space and plummeted into his home last month. Alejandro Otero said a piece of equipment from the International Space Station hit his Naples home and posted photos on X in response to an astronomer who was tracking where and when the equipment entered Earth's atmosphere. Otero was on vacation but said the object caused significant damage and nearly stuck his son, local outlet WINK News first reported. "My son was home when the piece tore through the roof with a loud crash that could be heard on our security cameras as well," Otero told Fox News.

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA -- Faculty and students from Florida Tech's Center for Advanced Data Analytics and Systems are working with a team from the U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command/Intelligence Data/Tech Futures Division and the Air Force Research Lab/Multi-Domain Sensing Autonomy Division to bring artificial intelligence and machine learning to COVID-19 planning and resource management. The goal of the Florida Tech work, which began in early April and could continue at least through the summer, is to strengthen the understanding of the effects COVID-19 has on Air Force missions and operations. "Our collaboration with Florida Tech has been critical to changing the way we think about data and present it to our commanders," said John Matyjas, ACC Chief Scientist and lead for their COVID Data Analytics Team. The CADAS team of Carlos Otero, Adrian M. Peter and Anthony O. Smith, supported by students Xavier Merino, David Elliott, Steven Wyatt, Benjamin Luchterhand, Evan Martino, Christopher Bonomi and David Nieves-Acaron, has developed capabilities to rapidly gain situational awareness and support the seamless integration of data-driven artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning models for forecasting. "This task provides invaluable experience to our students while helping in the critical mission to better understand and utilize COVID-19-related data that ultimately can help the Air Force manage and move beyond this challenging situation," Otero said.