Amelia Earhart, one of the world’s most celebrated aviation pioneers, disappeared over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937, while attempting to fly around the world with navigator Fred Noonan. Nearly nine decades later, her fate remains unknown. A new 17-member expedition backed by Purdue University and the Archaeological Legacy Institute reached Nikumaroro, a remote island in the Republic of Kiribati, on October 12, 2026, to investigate an underwater object that could potentially be linked to her missing Lockheed Electra. The search has renewed attention to the long-standing theory that Earhart and Noonan may have reached the island after failing to locate Howland Island. According to this hypothesis, Earhart may have survived as a castaway before dying there, with giant coconut crabs potentially scavenging her remains and scattering her bones.
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