Congratulations, you did not get crushed by falling space debris last night.

[LCHIEN]

Congratulations, if you are reading this, then you did not get crushed by falling space debris last night.

Yes, the Chinese Long March 5B rocket booster fell to earth.
Another media super-hyped sensation.
Like there was a lot you could do to keep from getting hit... like maybe a tin foil hat.

Still I figure you were 10,000 times more likely to get hit and killed by a red sports car this weekend than to be hit and killed by a falling Chinese space booster.

[Jim Frye]

Chicken Little is highly disappointed.

[twistsol]

I also enjoyed NASA complaining about China for being irresponsible with space debris. Apparently nobody remembers the summer of 1979 when Skylab fell into the Indian Ocean and on parts of Australia with much of the same hype and false terror generated by the media.

[LCHIEN]

Chrs, Skylab was forty plus years ago and designed earlier than that
NASA is got better control over space items to minimize falling object threats.

their critique is hey it's forty years later, do a better job. The standards of performance are higher now.

Its pretty much we know how to avoid such things, it's another to take the responsibility for others and try at reasonable cost and effort to avoid such a thing.

[mpc]

When bits of Skylab fell on Southwestern Australia, a local town sent NASA a $400 fine for littering. It was in jest; NASA never paid it but a radio station did a fundraiser and sent the money to the town.

Okay, found some stories on it:
NASA Fined for Littering story
Another NASA Fined for Littering story

mpc

[Carlos]

Yet another reason I've done everything possible to avoid media for 15+ years.