Space Junk. Since the launch of Sputnik in 1957, approximately 4,600 launches have placed some 6,000 satellites into orbit. Today, it is estimated that only 800 satellites are operational.
This is a photo of debris objects in low-Earth orbit (about 2,000 km above the Earth’s surface). The debris is comprised of inactive satellites or fragments of spacecraft that have broken up, exploded, or become abandoned.