Nineteen thousand pieces of space debris are orbiting the earth’s low orbit. This junk consists of things like spent rockets, solid fuel, nuts, bolts, tools, cameras, and lens caps—all hurtling around the world at about 17,000 mph. An encounter with one of these high-velocity pieces of debris could spell disaster for a communications satellite or a manned space station.
Biggest Piece of Space Junk Ever
In the late afternoon of November 11’th, 2008 a piece of space junk known as the Early Ammonia Servicer, or EVS, was hurled towards earth, landing somewhere in the Indian ocean near the southern region of Tasmania. This particular piece of space junk, jettisoned from the International Space Station by American astronaut Clayton Anderson and Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchkhin, contained a toxic load of purely refined liquid ammonia.