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Russian cosmonauts toss old equipment overboard on ISS spacewalk
(www.space.com)
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this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2023
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Cover author: Michał Kałużny http://astrofotografia.pl/
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I assume this will just burn up on re-entry?
I know NASA ships their garbage back though, so I can only assume there's a good reason for that...
NASA burns up a lot of garbage. They do send some home in the cargo/crew Dragon 2s, but they burn up the entire Cygnus cargo vehicles, and, starting last year, launch garbage bags out of the Bishop airlock.
What goes around comes around.
As long as the chuck it the right direction with enough speed, it shouldn't be a risk to ISS.
I think there's less uncertainly in packing garbage into a deorbiting capsule, though.
Relevant Scott Manley video:
https://youtu.be/cxNJoaBLLNM