Siberian farmer in space trash row
Published 16 March, 2008, 18:21
A farmer in the Russia’s Siberian Republic of Altay is demanding compensation from Russia’s Space Agency, after a large piece of metal crashed into his backyard. It was identified as a piece of a Proton-M rocket launched from the Baikonour cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
What should a man think when a large piece of metal falls in his backyard?
“I heard a noise and then a bang! I was frightened, ran away from the house,” recalls Boris Ulmatov, local resident.
Ecologists easily recognized the object.
“It seems it is a part of a rocket vehicle Proton-M,” they say.
And the farmer’s now claiming compensation from the Russian Space Agency.
The region is on the flight path of Rockets launched from the Baikonour cosmodrome. Russia's Space Agency has an agreement with the republic that fragments from ejected rocket sections can fall in uninhabited areas. But in reality they sometimes stray from the designated area and fall all over the sparsely populated republic.
But it’s not aliens locals are afraid of. It’s the threat to their health.
The public outcry has forced the space agency to send a special commission to the Republic. However, this is just the beginning of the inquiry.
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