A sheep farmer in Australia 'didn't know what to think' after stumbling upon a mysterious hunk of debris in one of his paddocks.
Mike Minner, who runs a sheep farm at Numbla Vale, south of Jindabyne, in New South Wales (NSW), discovered the three-metre high object last Monday (25 July).
"I didn't know what to think, I had no idea what it was," he told ABC News.
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It turned out neighbouring farmer, Jock Wallace, had also found some inexplicable debris too.
"I didn't hear the bang, but my daughters said it was very loud," Jock said.
"I think it's a concern it's just fallen out of the sky. If it landed on your house it would make a hell of a mess."
Jock contacted the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), but he said he was told to give the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) a bell.
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"I'm a farmer from Dalgety, what am I going to say to NASA?" Jock quite reasonably asked.
The Australian Space Agency (ASA) and NSW Police inspected the debris on Saturday (31 July) and it has now been confirmed that the parts come from a craft built by Elon Musk's company.
"The agency has confirmed the debris is from a SpaceX mission and continues to engage with our counterparts in the US, as well as other parts of the Commonwealth and local authorities as appropriate," an ASA spokesperson told ABC News.
"The agency is operating under the Australian Government Space Re-entry Debris Plan which outlines roles and responsibilities for key Australian government agencies and committees in supporting the response to space re-entry debris."
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Dr Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at the Australian National University, had already concluded that the debris could belong to a SpaceX craft that came hurtling back to Earth in May.
He told Sky News: "At 7am local time, the SpaceX Crew-1 Trunk, which is the unpressurised bottom part of the capsule, was catalogued and tracked to be re-entering over the southern parts of New South Wales in Australia.
"At that time, people across the area heard a sonic boom as the trunk entered the atmosphere. People also saw it breaking apart, characteristic of space junk.
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"After inspection, you can see scorching patterns."
"The parts can also be roughly visually matched to pictures and parts of the trunk," he added:
UNILAD has contacted SpaceX for comment.
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Jake Massey