[meteorite-list] Space junk - marine life - shame on NASA

[Chris Peterson]

Hi Greg-

This thing was, in fact, deliberately discarded with the knowledge that it 
would reenter. It posed no risk to anything else because it was large enough 
to track, in a known orbit, and was sure to have a short lifetime in space. 
It had no potential to produce any additional debris.

This isn't the first thing they scuttled from the ISS.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Greg Hupe" <gmhupe at htn.net>
To: <star_wars_collector at yahoo.com>
Cc: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2008 12:10 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Space junk - marine life - shame on NASA


> Hello Greg,
>
> Where do you read that an astronaut, "..threw it (ammonia tank) overboard 
> (from the International Space Station) during a space walk in July 2007."? 
> I find it highly unlikely that material would be purposely tossed into 
> space to potentially be a floating target for future spacecraft and/or 
> satellites to hit. I do not think NASA has the same mindset that some 
> cruise ship operators have by throwing their bags of trash into the ocean.
>
> My thoughts!
> Greg