Amelia Earhart wanted to become the first woman to circumnavigate the earth by air. However, her dream was cut short when the plane, Lockheed 10E Electra she and navigator Fred Noonan were in, disappeared on July 2, 1937.
While several theories have followed seen, the fact the wreckage of the plain and the remains of the passengers were never found, made it one of the greatest mysteries in the history of the world.
However, decades after the disappearance, in 2020, a retired US Navy veteran named Mike Ashmore, claimed that he saw something akin to the wing of an aircraft.
He said he came across it while zooming into a satellite image he had taken via a backyard drone shot around 400 miles southeast of Howland Island, according to media reports. Also known as the "Taraia Object", the image is said to be dating back to 1938.
Archaeologist Rick Pettigrew, the executive director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI), was the one who suspected that it could be, after all, Amelia Earhart's lost aircraft. He went on to share the image with the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIHAR) and debate followed.
Now, according to media reports, Rick will carry on an expedition in July 2026 with USA's Purdue University to further investigate the claims. This was the same university where Amelia once worked. The expedition will span across five days and will include sonar scans, magnetometer readings and dredging, according to the University's statement.
Following Amelia's disappearance, several expeditions have been undertaken to find the reality behind her disappearance, but none of them came up with any conclusive answers to the age-old mystery.
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