space junk

NASA says this stanchion, at right, had been expected to burn up during reentry, but instead it struck a man's house in Florida. The object is seen here next to another stanchion in pristine shape, at left.

National

A hunk of space junk crashed through a Florida man's roof. Who should pay to fix it?

4:07pm April 23, 2024

by Bill Chappell

"It was not like anything I had ever seen before," Alejandro Otero says. It turned out his home was hit by debris from the International Space Station that had been circling the Earth for three years.

This composite image created with data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the far side of the moon. A mysterious piece of space junk is set to crash into the far side Friday morning.

Science

In a first, a mysterious rocket part is about to slam into the moon — by accident

8:53pm March 03, 2022

by Brendan Byrne

A rocket part set to slam into the far side of the moon Friday morning highlights the growing issue of space junk in orbit around Earth, experts say

Queue Listen Now

A Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket lifted off in Florida in Feb. 2015, on its way to send the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite into space. But seven years later, part of the rocket left behind in space is hurtling straight toward the moon.

A piece of space junk the size of a school bus is barreling straight toward the moon

4:29pm February 02, 2022

by Deepa Shivaram

Astronomers predict that on March 4th, a piece of a rocket launched in 2015 will crash into the moon. It's believed to be first time something man-made has accidentally crashed into the moon.

"We're tracking it. We're following it as closely as we can. It's just a little too soon right now to know where it's going to go or what if anything can be done about that," a U.S. Space Command spokesman told reporters.

What Goes Up Must Come Down — Including A Giant Chinese Rocket Plunging Toward Earth

11:06pm May 06, 2021

by Vanessa Romo

U.S. Space Command says the exact entry point into the Earth's atmosphere cannot be pinpointed until hours before its reentry, which is expected sometime around May 8.

A rendering showing ELSA-d's concept of operations. The mission aims to demonstrate technology that could help clear space debris.

Science

New Effort To Clean Up Space Junk Prepares To Launch

8:21pm March 21, 2021

by Chloee Weiner

Known as ELSA-d, the mission will exhibit technology that could help capture space junk, some of the millions of pieces of orbital debris that float above Earth.

India launched a ballistic missile defense interceptor last week — and NASA says it created dangerous debris in orbit. "We have identified 400 pieces of orbital debris from that one event," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said.

Science

NASA: Debris From India's Anti-Satellite Test Raised Threat To Space Station

1:25pm April 02, 2019

by Bill Chappell

"That is a terrible, terrible thing to create an event that sends debris in an apogee that goes above the International Space Station," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said.

Visitors sit beside a model of China's Tiangong-1 space station in 2010, at the 8th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai in southern China's Guangdong Province. As forecast, China's defunct Tiangong 1 space station re-entered Ea

Science

Chinese Space Lab Crashes To Earth

10:49pm April 01, 2018

by Camila Domonoske

Tiangong-1, an abandoned Chinese orbiting lab, re-entered the atmosphere over the South Pacific Ocean Sunday evening, fulfilling predictions by the European Space Agency.

A rendering in a video by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) shows an electrodynamic tether being deployed to help reduce the amount of space junk in orbit.

Science

Japan Sends Long Electric Whip Into Orbit, To Tame Space Junk

5:23pm December 09, 2016

by Bill Chappell

A cable that's as long as six football fields has been launched into orbit — and when it's deployed, it'll test an idea to knock out debris that threatens astronauts and spacecraft.

WATCH: The Stuff We've Left In Space

12:01pm December 30, 2015

by Camila Domonoske

Scientists keep track of nearly 20,000 pieces of space debris, from the size of an apple to that of a school bus. A visualization from the Royal Institution lets you watch the orbiting trash pile up.