Let the space station fall, but only fined 400 USD

A NASA space station once lost control, exploded upon landing on Earth, but the agency was fined only $ 400 for littering.

Space Station Skylab was launched by the US Aerospace Agency (NASA) in 1973. The agency had planned Skylab to operate for at least 10 years, but that did not happen. The sun radiates more energy than expected, increasing Skylab’s pull back to Earth. Image: NASA . On the night of July 11, 1979, Skylab returned to Earth and exploded over the Indian Ocean, west of Australia. Debris from the 85-ton space station is scattered across fields and small towns. Although no one was injured, the town of Esperance (Australia) fined $ 400 to NASA for littering. However, this agency does not pay. Until 2009, a new radio station in California (USA) paid this fine. Photo: State Library of Western Australia. Not only Skylab, there have been many instances where objects from space fell uncontrollably down to Earth. November 10, 2013, satellite GOCE The European Space Agency (ESA) caught fire and plunged into the Atlantic due to running out of fuel a month ago. According to the Space , GOCE is used to map the Earth’s gravity. Previously, scientists were concerned that the 1-ton satellite could fall to the mainland. Image: Space . Atmospheric Research Satellites (UARS) was launched by NASA in September 1991 with space shuttle Discovery to analyze the Earth’s ozone layer. In December 2005, a satellite weighing 6.5 tons, worth $ 750 million, was stopped by NASA before it fell to Earth in September 2011. While most of the satellites were burned, the remaining 532 kg of UARS fell to Canada, Africa, parts of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. Image: NASA . NASA launches satellites Pegasus 2 weighed 11.6 tons in 1965 to study asteroids orbiting the Earth. The data was sent back to NASA by Pegasus 2 for about 3 years, then kept on orbit for 11 years. On November 3, 1979, the satellite returned to Earth and then exploded, debris plunging down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Image: NASA . Operated for 9 years from 1971 to 1982, Salyut 7 is the last space station in the Salyut program of the Soviet Union. On February 7, 1991, the 22-ton space station lost control, crashing to Earth after a period of time out of orbit while still connected to the Cosmos 1686 spacecraft. Both burned and exploded in the sky. Argentina, some fragments found in Capitan Bermudez region, no human casualties have been reported. Image: Space Age . On February 1, 2003, space shuttle Columbia exploded in the sky above Texas (USA) when returning to Earth, killing 7 astronauts. Investigations revealed that 82 seconds after the 100-ton ship took off, an insulating foam fell onto the carbon fiber board, puncturing the hull and damaging the body temperature protection while it was in service. speed 28,968 km / h. Although no one on the ground was injured, the Columbia event marked the second deadliest disaster in NASA’s space shuttle program. Image: NASA . Cosmos 954 , the secret satellite of the Soviet Navy used to spy on US nuclear submarines, launched on September 18, 1977 lost control. On January 24, 1978, a 3.8-ton satellite crashed northwestern Canada, causing radioactive debris to scatter over a large area. The Government of Canada asked the Soviet Union to pay $ 6 million for the search and cleanup campaign, but this country only accepted to pay $ 3 million. Image: NASA . On July 27, 2016, a boosters Long March 7 (Truong Chinh 7) China’s free fall, exploding in the American western skies. The image of a missile-generated light trail in the sky is widely shared on the Internet. The Long March missile chain is part of China’s plan to build an outer space station. Image: Matt Holt . Space Station Tiangong 1 (Heavenly Palace 1) China exploded over the southern Pacific on April 1, 2018. The 8-ton space station was launched in 2011, receiving 2 crew from 2012-2013 before completing the mission. In March 2016, China lost contact with Tiangong 1, allowing the space station to fall freely due to the gravity of the Earth. Image: CMSA . SpaceX’s test missile explodes again when it lands on the launch pad SpaceX’s Starship SN9 rocket landed and exploded on 2/2. This is the first phase prototype of a reusable rocket line that will help send people to Mars.