# A plastic bag found floating in space. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 20, 2006, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-bag-found-floating-in-space/373402 "2006-09-20T12:43:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-bag-found-floating-in-space/373402/21 "2006-09-20T17:11:20Z")
I’ve heard that John Glenn, when asked what one of the most beautiful things he saw in space was, said “a urine dump”. Apparently they used to empty the urine oyut of the capsule, and the globs of water or ice refracted and reflected the sunlight beautifully. Of course, urine will eventally evaporate in space, and not leave chunks flying around. I hadn’t heard about Soviet “space dumps”, but they could have been a source of such “orbital pollution” if they existed. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-bag-found-floating-in-space/373402/22 "2006-09-20T18:01:53Z")
Seems like they could dump anything small, in space, as long as it’s in a rapidly decaying orbit. Into the atmosphere and POOF! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-bag-found-floating-in-space/373402/23 "2006-09-20T18:16:26Z")
[QUOTE=FormerMarineGuy] I am not sure if this worthy of a seperate thread, but how does a plastic bag get into space? Forgive me for my ignorance which I am in recovery for now. Is it from the space station or trash dumping for space shuttles? Could it somehow leave Earth and ‘get up there’? [/QUOTE] One of the problems in building and maintaining aircraft and spacecraft is debris control. Everytime someone installs or replaces a part, there is a chance that they will leave behind wire clippings, screws, washers, tools, etc. On the ground, they may be hidden from visual inspection after they fall or roll into an out-of-the-way place. Take the vehicle into space, or perform aerobatics, and the debris can float out of its hiding places. This can result in equipment failure if the debris shorts out an electrical circuit or jams a mechanical device. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-bag-found-floating-in-space/373402/24 "2006-09-20T18:39:26Z")
> [@](#): > > But my understanding is that socks are actually the larval form of coat hangers. Silly, you’re thinking of paper clips. The adult form, in case anyone is wondering, is abandoned bicycles. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-bag-found-floating-in-space/373402/25 "2006-09-20T18:42:39Z")
This is another minor watershed moment in environmental degradation. Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-bag-found-floating-in-space/373402/26 "2006-09-20T19:35:50Z")
[QUOTE=Sailboat] This is another minor watershed moment in environmental degradation. Sailboat [/QUOTE] Hardly. There’s been manmade junk orbiting the Earth for decades. According to my sister, who works in this field (her doctoral thesis was concerned with orbiting debris etc and methods of tracking it), some of the most dangerous debris is “space turds” - they’re big enough to do serious damage but small enough that you can’t easily track them. Imagine a frozen Richard III coming through your windscreen at 24,000mph :eek: ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-bag-found-floating-in-space/373402/27 "2006-09-21T01:45:13Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] According to my sister, who works in this field (her doctoral thesis was concerned with orbiting debris etc and methods of tracking it), some of the most dangerous debris is “space turds” - they’re big enough to do serious damage but small enough that you can’t easily track them. Imagine a frozen Richard III coming through your windscreen at 24,000mph :eek: [/QUOTE] Well, any sufficiently advanced civilization capable of observing us has probably ascertained by now that we have, in fact, marked our territory using the universal language of feces in orbit. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-bag-found-floating-in-space/373402/28 "2006-09-21T01:53:24Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] We keep getting told that space junk is a problem, but this particular piece of space junk really brings it home for me. It’s just so sad. There are plastic bags in our oceans, our deserts, our wetlands, our mountain ranges, and now in bloody space… [/QUOTE] Cue the clip of the American Indian in a space canoe with a tear coming down his cheek… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-bag-found-floating-in-space/373402/29 "2006-09-21T02:18:17Z")
[QUOTE=ASAKMOTSD] Cue the clip of the American Indian in a space canoe with a tear coming down his cheek… 😉 [/QUOTE] It’d be a Moon Man in a flying saucer. But here’s the thing, he’s not REALLY a Moon Man. He’s played by a Martian actor! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-bag-found-floating-in-space/373402/30 "2006-09-21T07:05:01Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] Hardly. There’s been manmade junk orbiting the Earth for decades. According to my sister, who works in this field (her doctoral thesis was concerned with orbiting debris etc and methods of tracking it), some of the most dangerous debris is “space turds” - they’re big enough to do serious damage but small enough that you can’t easily track them. Imagine a frozen Richard III coming through your windscreen at 24,000mph :eek: [/QUOTE] Someone pointed out that Earth on life may have been started by some alien astronaut poop that drifted our way. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![LorieSmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a587f6/32.png) [@LorieSmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LorieSmurf)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-bag-found-floating-in-space/373402/31 "2006-09-22T04:19:01Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] Someone pointed out that Earth on life may have been started by some alien astronaut poop that drifted our way. :eek: [/QUOTE] I sort of pity the life that starts from \*our \* species’ poops. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-bag-found-floating-in-space/373402/32 "2006-09-22T05:58:23Z")
> [@](#): > > **CalMeacham** : But my understanding is that socks are actually the larval form of coat hangers. As soon as I read that, I heard the music to the stabbing portion of the shower scene from _Psycho_. KnowhutImean? It was an instant of recognition of Absolute Truth. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-bag-found-floating-in-space/373402/33 "2006-09-22T06:07:25Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] Someone pointed out that Earth on life may have been started by some alien astronaut poop that drifted our way. :eek: [/QUOTE] So if I called someone a piece of shit I could be right :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-bag-found-floating-in-space/373402/34 "2006-09-22T06:22:30Z")
[QUOTE=The Chao Goes Mu] Thank you **CalMeacham**. I’m waiting for the next news report that they’ve found millions of mismatched socks floating in Earth’s orbit. [/QUOTE] People have been worrying about the “hose zone” layer for some time now. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-bag-found-floating-in-space/373402/35 "2006-09-22T06:50:16Z")
[QUOTE=Raguleader] It’d be a Moon Man in a flying saucer. [/QUOTE] Actually, it’s probably [Matthew Looney](http://www.angelfire.com/il2/mapleparklibrary/beatty/cover4.jpg) and Chairman of the Moon R.T. Muss, talking with the other Moonsters in Crater Copernicus about how to handle the encroachment of the Earthers… so they send the Space Navy ship _Feebey_ to the Hercules Globular Cluster… There, that’s a reference obscure enough for the Straight Dope… ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-bag-found-floating-in-space/373402/36 "2006-09-22T15:29:23Z")
[QUOTE=Sailboat] This is another minor watershed moment in environmental degradation. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Colophon] Hardly. There’s been manmade junk orbiting the Earth for decades. [/QUOTE] I know. It’s just that the plastic bag is sort of becoming an iconic piece of trash. Mid-pacific sailors don’t see human feces floating around, I don’t see space station bolts in my driveway; but we all see plastic bags. Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-bag-found-floating-in-space/373402/37 "2006-09-22T16:31:09Z")
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist] That’s no plastic bag… That’s a space station! [/QUOTE] Looks like a used condom to me. What “experiements” are they running up there, again? Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-bag-found-floating-in-space/373402/38 "2006-09-22T16:38:52Z")
[QUOTE=Stranger On A Train] Looks like a used condom to me. What “experiements” are they running up there, again? [/QUOTE] [Zap Brannigan] Why, _sexy_ experiments, of course! [/Zap Brannigan] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plastic-bag-found-floating-in-space/373402.md?page=1)