Space probe crashes into Pacific, Russians say

[liberal N proud]

Derelict Russian space probe crashes to Earth
Military spokesman reports Phobos-Grunt re-entry over Pacific Ocean

MOSCOW — A failed probe that was designed to travel to a moon of Mars but got stuck in Earth orbit has crashed into the Pacific Ocean, Russian officials said Sunday.

The unmanned Phobos-Grunt probe was one of the heaviest and most toxic space derelicts ever to crash to Earth, but there were no reports of injury or damage. There's a good chance that no one actually saw the spacecraft's fiery plunge.

"Phobos-Grunt fragments have crashed down in the Pacific Ocean," the RIA-Novosti news service quoted Alexei Zolotukhin, a spokesman for Russia's aerospace defense forces, as saying. The debris zone was said to be 775 miles (1,250 kilometers) west of Wellington Island in the South Pacific. Re-entry was estimated to occur at about 12:45 p.m. ET, based on the data received by the Russians.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46005190/ns/technology_and_science-space/

[Lawlbringer]

1. Send Peter Weller

and Ernie Hudson. They've handled this kind of thing before.

[Lionel Mandrake]

2. "one of the ... most toxic space derelicts ever to crash to Earth"

I wonder what sort of toxicity is being referred to here.

The spacecraft does contain a few ounces of plutonium, which might be dispersed in the air, or it might survive the trip through the atmosphere and contaminate the land or water where the parts of the spacecraft end up.

There are also tons of ordinary liquid rocket fuel & oxidizer; these chemicals are often described as toxic, but they probably burned up in the atmosphere.

[HopeHoops]

3. Who are you going to trust, the Russians?

What if Jerry Lewis had said that? We don't know!