Last night on Sunday, March 29th at 9:45pm- a loud BOOM! in the sky along with streaking pale blue lights prompted a flood of 911 calls from Virginian residents. Aliens? Meteors? Supernatural weather? No. The remnants of a Russian rocket carrying crew and American billionaire Charles Simonyi- the world's first two-time space tourist- to the International Space Station high above the rest of our dozing heads.
Is space tourism the next big thing? Of course it is... its the natural next step. We'll all be taking trips to the moon in no time aboard a luxury liner spaceship. Aren't they building hotels up there right now? Sea voyages aboard the QE2 will be so passe' in 10 years (maybe sooner). However, exploding space junk and rocket remnants raises a bit of a question for the rest of us on Earth. Atomic bomb-sized booms and meteorite-like lights in the sky, signaling trash slamming in to Earth from SPACE.... as if we didn't make enough of our own down here.... poses a bit of a problem, don't you think? Afterall, there is no telling where it will land. The rocket that took off Sunday was lifting off in Kazakhstan.
Though NASA and the U.S. Airforce have not made a statement on last night's event, one wonders how the world governments will handle the new enterprise of space tourism and its subsequent space junk. Though the atmosphere, theoretically, should burn any trash re-entering our skies.... there is the phenomenon of "windows" to consider, which is why the rocket bits were seen, heard, and crashed to Earth somewhere off the coast of Virginia. A window occured in our atmosphere at approximately 8pm. And you thought your biggest headache was sorting the plastic from the glass..... silly earthlings! Rockets away!
Here's a photo I found the space trash currently orbiting home sweet home, just for fun. Enjoy!
