“The important news is, of course, there was no injury or damage,” he said. However, some space enthusiasts – like grey nomad Bill Ricketts – are not reassured.

“If that millionaire does not Watch this space learn from this potential catastrophe, then someone will get killed and lots of damage will occur,” Bill said. “His ego trip is a danger to Earth.”

Bill searches for meteorites as he travels. PIC: Bill Ricketts

Bill has just returned from his latest caravanning adventure, where he studied the night sky in the evenings, and hunted for meteorites in the days.

Enthusiasts like Bill have, of course, been in their element in recent week thanks to the Perseid meteor shower — one of the strongest annual meteor showers.

When a lump of space rock – or meteoroid – survives a trip through Earth’s atmosphere and hits the ground, it’s then called a meteorite. On average, one falls to Earth every day, and there are a few hardy souls, like Bill, who are ‘driven’ to seek them out.

Of course, spacecraft junk is a little less common, which makes the arrival of SpaceX remnants all the more startling.

Back in 1979, when Elon Musk was just an innocent eight-year-old, it was the crash landing of parts of the US space station, Skylab, which was making headlines.

Incredibly, no one was injured when the 77-tonne Skylab space station broke up, with parts of it scattered across remote WA, and larger pieces falling into the sea. There are still several museums in WA containing pieces of Skylab, including at the Balladonia Roadhouse on the Nullarbor.

• Are you a grey nomad ‘space watcher’? Have you seen the Skylab remnants at Balladonia? Comment below.

Are you a Grey Nomad member yet? Click here to find out about the discounts, competitions and other benefits on offer.