What Was the First Piece of Man-Made Space Junk?

Splynn asks: "I was wondering about what the very first man made object to leave Earth's atmosphere was. We all know that Sputnik was the first man made satellite, but there must have been something that actually made it out there befor Sputnik." For those who are curious, Sputnik was launched on October 4, 1957. Sputnik may have been the first satellite to orbit the earth, but was it really the first successful launch into space?

Comments

Trinity

[Henry V .009]

"What was the first-piece of man-made space junk?"

I'd imagine that is asking what the first thing we put into orbit was. If no screws came off experimental V2's, then I'd imagine that the first real "space junk" was put up with the atomic bomb detonation at Trinity.

There is actually an interesting story in regards to this. When the SR-71 was first built, they were surprised to find little black impact crators on the wind-shield--apparently received while the bird was flying at maximum altitude. Of course, that is far too high for debris. Later, after analysis, they came to the conclusion that the SR-71 had collided with insects thrown up by nuclear detonations. You can think of it as our first problem with space (high-altitude anyway) junk.

Manhole covers in space...or not.

[Mick D.]

Check the following link out. He did a good job trying to collect from primary sources, and actual known values to get the the answer. Read the article to find out, but it aint likely to be sputnick. http://www.strangehorizons.com/2002/20021021/manho le.shtml