Orbital Debris Program Office

Orbital Debris Recovered Objects

On average, one non-functional spacecraft, launch vehicle orbital stage, or other piece of cataloged debris has fallen back to Earth every day for more than 40 years. The majority of these objects do not survive the intense reentry environment. For the minority which do survive in whole or in part, most fall harmlessly into the oceans or onto sparsely populated regions such as Siberia, the Australian Outback, or the Canadian Tundra. Occasionally, components of spacecraft and launch vehicles are found. Shown below are examples of objects recovered since 1997 in Texas, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa.