When Ann Walter gazed out from her home in rural West Texas, she was unsure how to interpret the large object slowly making its way across the sky.
Her astonishment grew even more when she discovered the peculiar item that had landed in a neighboring wheat field: a rectangular piece of scientific apparatus, comparable in size to an SUV, connected to a gigantic parachute, bedecked with NASA logos.
She reached out to the local sheriff’s office, only to find out that NASA was indeed in search of some lost equipment.
“It’s unbelievable, because when you’re on the ground and spot something in the air, you fail to comprehend its actual size,” she remarked. “The parachute was probably around 30 feet wide. It was massive.”
Walter soon received a call from NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility, which manages the launch of large, unmanned high-altitude research balloons that ascend more than 20 miles into the sky for scientific investigations.
NASA representatives, affected by the current government shutdown, did not respond to inquiries Thursday.
A message left with the balloon facility was also not answered promptly.
A launch schedule posted on the balloon facility’s site indicates a series of launches conducted from Fort Sumner, New Mexico, which is about 140 miles west of where the equipment came down.
Hale County Sheriff David Cochran confirmed that NASA personnel contacted his office last week in pursuit of the equipment.
Walter mentioned that she eventually spoke with someone from the balloon facility who informed her that the equipment was launched a day prior from Fort Sumner and was equipped with telescopes to collect data on stars, galaxies, and black holes.
“Researchers arrived with a truck and trailer to retrieve it,” she recounted.
However, before that happened, Walter and her family, residing in Edmonson, Texas, managed to take a few pictures and videos.
“It’s quite surreal that this happened to us and that I was a part of it,” she reflected. “It was an amazing experience.”
