A Texas family got an out-of-this-world surprise earlier this month when a piece of NASA research equipment crash-landed on their property.
Ann and Hayden Walter told the Associated Press they were stunned when a bulky object with a massive parachute came drifting down onto their farm in Edmonson, a small community in West Texas.
“It’s crazy, because when you’re standing on the ground and see something in the air, you don’t realize how big it is,” Ann told AP. “It was probably a 30-foot parachute. It was huge.”
The couple called the local sheriff’s department after the large box-like object landed nearby. Deputies soon learned NASA was searching for a missing piece of equipment — and that the Walters had found it.
According to NASA, the probe was part of a high-altitude research mission launched from the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, about 140 miles west of where it touched down. The facility routinely sends unmanned scientific balloons more than 20 miles into the atmosphere to study stars, galaxies and black holes.
“The researchers came out with a truck and trailer they used to pick it up,” Ann said. “It’s kind of surreal that it happened to us and that I was part of it. It was a very cool experience.”
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