NASA has confirmed that a sizable piece of space debris discovered last month on a mountain trail in North Carolina originated from a SpaceX capsule that recently returned from the International Space Station.

The roughly 3-foot debris chunk, found near Asheville by an employee of The Glamping Collective, belonged to the service module or “trunk” of a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.

This trunk, which carries cargo and is equipped with solar panels for power, is typically discarded before re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, where it was expected to burn up completely, NBC News has reported.

The discovery suggests that parts of the vehicle may survive re-entry, despite initial expectations.

Written by B.C. Begley