Page 4 - Trashing the Planet: Examining Our Global Garbage Glut

CHAPTER 7
Space Junk

umans have covered Planet Earth with trash and toxic waste. But did
you know that we’re polluting outer space too? It all started in the
1950s, when the United States and the Soviet Union (1922–1991,
Ha union of fifteen countries that included Russia) began sending
satellites into space. In 1957 the Soviet Union launched its first two
satellites, and the United States launched its first satellite in 1958.
On March 17, 1958, the United States launched its second satellite, a
small research satellite called Vanguard 1. The satellite was a 3.2-pound
(1.5 kg) aluminum sphere, 6.4 inches (16 cm) in diameter. Six 12-inch (30
cm) antennae projected from the surface of the satellite. Vanguard 1 was
historic for several reasons: circling above Earth at 2,440 miles (3,926 km),

82 TRASHING THE PLANET