Are space agencies getting more careless with their space junk? Just last weekend, there was a bunch of Chinese rocket debris that literally flew over Lincoln and could have hit any one of us. Seriously. The trajectory cut a line clear across Nebraska. 9 tons of flying junk was just a couple miles above our heads.
I was also just reading about a piece of Space X stuff, which had been floating around space for two years and then recently landed in an Australian sheep farmer’s homestead. Space X says it was supposed to land in the ocean. Well, it’s 10 feet long, weighs a couple hundred pounds, and didn’t. Another piece landed in his neighbor’s farm.
By the way, if a piece of space junk land in your yard, the law says it still belongs to whoever sent it up. You can’t keep it as a lawn ornament or try to sell it.