The biggest meteorites in history that have plummeted to Earth and survived

Often, when rocks from space hurtle towards Earth, they burn up in the atmosphere before actually reaching us. The ones that vaporise become a meteor — or a shooting star.

The lucky few that make the whole journey land on Earth as meteorites. Once on the surface, these meteorites can exist as a single rock for thousands of years, except for a little weathering. 

Asteroids are much bigger, such as the one 63 million years ago that wiped out the dinosaurs, and 2012 DA14 which narrowly missed the Earth in 2013. 

Here are some of the biggest space rocks ever to crash into us and survive.

Willamette is the largest meteorite ever found in the US, at 7.8 square metres long and with a weight of 15.5 tonnes.

The Willamette Meteorite is made up of iron and nickel and was acquired by the American Museum of Natural History in New York City in 1906. It has an interesting little story attached, because it was discovered by Ellis Hughes in 1902 who recognised that it was more than a piece of rock, and spent three months shifting it three quarters of a mile from land owned by the Oregon Iron and Steel Company, but he was caught. The photo above was taken at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City in 1911.

Mbozi was discovered in Tanzania in the 1930s. It's 3 metres long and weighs an estimated 25 tonnes, or almost twice that of Willamette.

Mbozi was once a sacred stone to the people of Tanzania, who call it kimondo. No crater was found, which means it probably rolled like a boulder when it hit the Earth's surface. Mbozi was partially buried when it was first discovered, so people dug the hillside around it, leaving a pillar of soil underneath, which was then turned into a plinth. 

The third largest meteorite in history, the Cape York meteorite, collided with Earth nearly 10,000 years ago.

The Cape York meteorite, or Agpalilik meteorite, was discovered in 1993 in Greenland and weighs about 20 tonnes. It's been around a long time, and Inuit living near it used other peces as a source of mental for tools and harpoons. It is currently on display in the Geological Museum of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.