February 10, 2009 – An Iridium satellite and a Russian Cosmos satellite collided in the first-ever satellite crash. According to the U.S. Strategic Command’s Space Surveillance Network, the collision left behind an estimated 600 pieces of debris. Prior to this incident, there were roughly 17,000 pieces of manmade debris orbiting Earth. The low-earth orbit (LEO) location of the collision contains many other active satellites that could be at risk from the resulting orbital debris

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