Space Junk News: 1400 lb International Station 'Refrigerator' Will Be Coming Down Tomorrow

Don't forget to duck!

Excerpt MSNBC News report "Space station trash plunging to Earth":

NASA and the U.S. Space Surveillance Network are tracking the object — a 1,400-pound (635-kilogram) thrown from the international space station — to make sure it does not endanger people on Earth. 

Of course. Protecting anyone from this is impossible.  This is more of the same BS that we usually get from the Bush administration.  They can't evacuate any town or city by the time they know where it's going to come down.  They can't change the trajectory.  The junk doesn't have rockets or controls on it.  Our best hope is that there is a lot of ocean and comparatively few boats on it, and a lot of empty land out there. 

NASA expects up to 15 pieces of the tank to survive the searing hot temperatures of re-entry, ranging in size from about 1.4 ounces (40 grams) to nearly 40 pounds (17.5 kilograms).
 
If they reach all the way to land, the largest pieces could slam into the Earth's surface at about 100 mph (161 kilometers per hour). But a splashdown at sea is also possible, as the planet is two-thirds ocean.

A spokesman from NASA warns that it would be dangerous to touch any objects that might reach ground. (And we all know that giving refuge to any stowaway ETs is really verboten.   You don't want the men in the white hazard suits to come bashing into your home.  We all saw that movie, right?) 

tags: space junk  reentry  nasa  bush administration  

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