In 1996, a French spy satellite, Cerise, was hit at about 30,000 miles (50,000 kilometers) per hour by a wheeling fragment left from an exploded Ariane rocket.
In June 1983, the windscreen of the US space shuttle Challenger had to be replaced after it was chipped by a fleck of paint measuring 0.01 of an inch (0.3 millimeters), that impacted at 2.5 miles (four kilometers) per second.
In June 1983, the windscreen of the US space shuttle Challenger had to be replaced after it was chipped by a fleck of paint measuring 0.01 of an inch (0.3 millimeters), that impacted at 2.5 miles (four kilometers) per second.
Space junk eventually falls to Earth, where it is usually completely consumed in the fiery heat of friction with the atmosphere. Re-entry can take weeks, months or many years, depending on the magnitude of the object's orbit.
Some 6,000 satellites have been sent into space since the Soviet Union launched the first man-made orbiter, Sputnik 1, in 1957. About 3,000 satellites remain in operation, according to NASA.
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