Space junk falls harmlessly in South Pacific

[November 04, 2008]  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- A refrigerator-sized piece of space junk fell harmlessly into the South Pacific Sunday night, according to NASA.

The junk was a tank full of ammonia coolant on the international space station that was no longer needed. Astronaut Clayton Anderson threw it overboard during a spacewalk in July 2007.

Space station program manager Mike Suffredini said Monday that the debris splashed down somewhere between Australia and New Zealand Sunday night. The tank had served as a reserve supply of spare coolant at the space station since 2001.

[Associated Press]

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