Suspected meteorite crashes into Houston home, officials say

A suspected meteorite crashed into a home in suburban Houston on Saturday night, according to local residents and officials.Speaking to the local news outlet KHOU11 over the weekend, Spring area resident Sherrie James recalled the incident, saying: “My grandson went to check and said there was a hole in the ceiling … then I saw the rock, and I thought, ‘That looks like a meteor.’”James said she reported the incident to the local fire department. “The first thing they thought was maybe it fell off a plane,” she recounted. However, the fire department later informed her that they had received reports that a meteor was over the north part of Houston which had exploded into multiple pieces.On Saturday, the US space agency NASA confirmed the information about a meteor, saying in a statement on X: “Eyewitnesses in Texas observed a bright fireball today … at [4.40pm local time]. Current data indicates that the meteor became visible at 49 miles above Stagecoach, north-west of Houston. It moved southeast at 35,000mph, breaking apart 29 miles above Bammel, just west of Cypress Station.It added: “The fragmentation of the meteor – which weighed about a ton with a diameter of 3 feet – created a pressure wave that caused booms heard by some in the area. Doppler weather radar also showed meteorites produced between Willowbrook and Northgate Crossing.”Local residents reported hearing thunder-like noises about the time the fireball was visible. Bridgeland resident Wendy Camardelle Heppner told KHOU11 that it “sounded like thunder, but clear skies” – while Dickinson resident Shylie Troquille reported a small ball of fire in the sky that swiftly disappeared.Saturday’s episode in Houston comes just days after a meteor in Ohio created a sonic boom so loud it was heard as far as Pennsylvania. Traveling at 45,000mph, the asteroid – about 2 meters in diameter and weighing about 6 tons – triggered the explosion, which NASA confirmed was felt well beyond northern Ohio.The events in Houston on Saturday called to mind an episode in August 2025 that involved a small fireball – no larger than a cherry tomato – that tore through a home in Atlanta. It was later confirmed to have originated from a meteorite that formed 4.56bn years ago.