UFO panic, fireballs, and screaming at telescopes – the strangest space news this week
The Cosmic Report brings you this week’s weirdest space moments, from a meteorite smashing through a Houston roof to a potato causing UFO panic on the ISS, plus NASA’s $4 billion telescope surviving a literal sonic assault.
When space hits back
A cantaloupe-sized meteorite punching through a Houston roof is not as farfetched as it seems.
On Saturday, March 21st, at approximately 5:50 p.m, a roughly three-foot-wide asteroid slammed into Earth’s atmosphere at over 35,000 mph.
The rock quickly disintegrated from atmospheric friction, producing a bright flash and a sonic boom that lasted several seconds, according to NASA.
The rock reportedly ricocheted around a bedroom before coming to rest beside a TV, turning a quiet suburban home into a cosmic crash site. Witnesses described a “loud bang” and bright streak across the sky, with more than 180 people reporting the fireball overhead.
The Houston strike wasn’t isolated, it came amid a cluster of at least four fireballs in a single week across the United States. Scientists acknowledge the spike but admit they “did not offer an explanation” for the sudden frequency.
Some researchers point to so-called “spring fireballs ,” which can increase sightings by up to 30%, though the mechanism remains unclear.
A meteorite was seen streaking across the Texas sky, including at a little league game near Houston. A piece of it smashed through the roof of a two-story home in the area. @DavidMuir reports. https://t.co/5AfNO4jzqv pic.twitter.com/wWjGXWp861
undefined World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) March 24, 2026
Why NASA is screaming at a $4 billion telescope
While space is throwing rocks at Earth, NASA is preparing its next telescope by essentially trying to destroy it with sound.
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope was blasted with 138 decibels, comparable to a jet engine at close range. Engineers simulated launch conditions because rockets generate intense acoustic shockwaves that can physically tear hardware apart.
“If you’ve ever been at a concert with an extremely loud bass, that load you felt was acoustic energy,” explained lead analyst Cory Powell. He added: “Now think about how loud a launch is.”
The telescope was also placed on a “shaker table” to mimic violent launch vibrations, effectively stress-testing every component.
With a price tag of over $4 billion, failure isn’t an option, every bolt must survive controlled chaos on Earth before facing real chaos in space. Once operational, Roman is expected to map the universe, probe dark energy, and potentially uncover thousands of new exoplanets, assuming it survives the screaming first.
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The “alien egg”
In orbit, even vegetables can trigger UFO panic, as one astronaut’s photo of a strange object sparked instant “alien egg” speculation online. The object, purple, bulbous, with tentacle-like growth, looked eerily similar to something from Alien.
It actually came from astronaut Don Pettit, who at 70, is currently NASA’s oldest active spacefarers, with nearly 600 days logged in orbit. He’s serving on Expedition 72 aboard the International Space Station, where he’s known for off‑duty science experiments and stunning orbital photography.
Social media reactions ranged from fear to dark humor, with one user bluntly writing: “Kill it with fire.”
Spudnik-1, an orbiting potato on @Space_Station!
undefined Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) March 20, 2026
I flew potatoes on Expedition 72 for my space garden, an activity I did in my off-duty time. This is an early purple potato, complete with spot of hook Velcro to anchor it in my improvised grow light terrarium.
Potatoes are one… pic.twitter.com/MXsoV20vJ8
The reality was far less threatening: it was a potato grown aboard the International Space Station. Don Pettit dubbed it “Spudnik-1, an orbiting potato”, in honor of Sputnik, Earth’s first artificial satellite.
He explained the plant was part of a personal space gardening experiment, anchored with Velcro in microgravity. “All plants I have ever grown in space have grown far slower than they would have on Earth,” Pettit noted.
