come a day when the astronauts see a cow go floating out the window of the International Space Station and give no importance. Since the launch of Sputnik in 1957, the number of objects that orbit our planet has reached a quantity and, above all, a variety that sometimes border on the picturesque.
These are some of the more interesting objects that once floated over our heads:
1. A golf ball Since
in 1971 astronaut Alan Shepard try your swing on the surface of the moon, the space race and golf have gone hand in hand.
In November 2006, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin hit golf ball from the International Space Station, 370 miles up, in a "drive" historic. It is estimated that the ball will continue circling the Earth until the year 2010.
2. Tools
flying just a few months ago, the November 18, 2008, U.S. astronaut Stefanyshyn-Pipe saw his toolbox escaped into the void while doing maintenance work on the International Space Station.
station's history is full of such losses. In June 2006, astronaut Suni Williams lost his camera. In November 2007, astronaut Scott Parazynski saw its claws were escaping into space. Some of these objects enter the atmosphere and disintegrate quickly. Others continue to float indefinitely.
3. The mysterious elongated object
In September 2002, an amateur astronomer Bill Yeung discovered called an object the size of a bus that circled the Earth at a distance of several thousand kilometers. The object, named J002E3 , aroused the interest of astronomers who observed that had elongated and was painted white.
After much research, NASA concluded that is one of the rockets of the Apollo 12, which broke off the lunar module in November 1969. The rocket has 30 years of circling the earth and our orbit docked for a few months. In September 2003, turned away, but his return is calculated for the year 2032.
4. The ashes of Star Trek creator
In 1992, astronauts from the space shuttle Columbia launched a capsule containing the ashes of Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry . The time capsule was circling the Earth until it disintegrated on reentry into the atmosphere.
Some companies offer the possibility to launch your ashes into space for a small fee.
5. Several million copper pins
In May 1963 the U.S. Air Force decided to conduct an experiment to improve their communications systems and released into space 480 million tiny copper pins with the aim of creating an artificial ring signals to be bounced. For two months, the needles are spread around our planet, forming a belt 30 km wide.
Goldstone observatory recently spotted a cloud of these pins at a height of about 2,900 kilometers. An estimated 40,000 are still in orbit.
6. A flying glove
The June 3, 1965, Edward H. White became the first American astronaut to walk in space. White left the Gemini 4 spacecraft attached to a 7-meter cable and lost one of his gloves during the experience.
The pledge was orbiting the Earth for a month and became one of the very first human objects floating over our heads.
7. Eschatological aurora
urine of astronauts orbited Earth has quite frequently. Until recently, the space station's waste was dumped directly outside and, as the astronauts themselves have , generated one of the most beautiful sites can be seen in space: Urine crystallized into thousands of tiny fragments fell into the atmosphere a kind of aurora.
8.
drops radioactiveAt an altitude of approximately 900 km, a cloud of radioactive droplets from the Soviet space missions continues to circle the Earth. It is estimated that the rockets of the missions RORSAT released some 70,000 nuclear fuel droplets disintegrate in the atmosphere.
Recent NASA Reports say some of those satellites, as the Cosmos 1818, continue to dump radioactive waste from orbit.
9. A crucifix around the planet
Arthur Blessitt, a very devout and very American eccentric is committed to place a crucifix and a Bible in orbit so that the figure of Christ "back to Earth day and night." The last attempt took place on August 2, 2008, when a cross and a Bible left into space aboard Falcon 1 rocket reached an altitude of 217 km. Finally, the satellite failed before going into orbit, but Blessit is willing to try again in the coming months.
10. The grandpa of the orbit
At a distance ranging between 700 and 4,000 km, is the human artifact longest circling the Earth. The satellite Vanguard 1, launched into space in 1958, has more than fifty years in orbit and has completed more than 200,000 around our planet.
This it the third most traveled vehicle history, after the Pioneer and Voyager probes, which target the outer solar system. And will still spinning a few years.
(Via lainformacion.com )
