On 4 October 1957 the first satellite, Sputnik, was launched. Since then, thousands of spacecraft have been sent into space. Every few weeks new satellites are put into orbit. Unfortunately, space is being polluted by debris from these space flights. More than 70,000 object have been left in space. Part of rockets have been left. Old satellites have been abandoned. Other items, including a glove, a spanner and a camera, have been lost by astronauts. The situation up there is becoming dangerous. both Russian and American spacecraft have been damaged. An astronaut would be killed if he or she was hit by a piece of rubbish. It would cost billion of dollars to collect all the debris, but if nothing is done the situation will only get worse. Sooner or later a satellite will be destroyed by a large piece of rubbish and thousands more pieces of debris will be scattered.