Space debris in near-Earth orbit

Debris: Cosmos 1408

Fragments of the defunct Soviet satellite Cosmos 1408, destroyed in a Russian anti-satellite test in November 2021; the cloud was low enough that most of it has already come down

On 15 November 2021 Russia destroyed its own defunct satellite Cosmos 1408 in an anti-satellite test, forcing the ISS crew to shelter in their return vehicles as the cloud passed. The debris was left near 480 km, low enough for the air to drag it down, and most of it has already re-entered - which is why so few pieces are left in the catalogue and why this row is the smallest of the four.

Further reading: orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov