Since the launch of Sputnik on 4 October 1957, more than 4,200 launches have placed some 5500 satellites into orbit. Currently about 700 satellites are used operationally for science and other applications. Space debris comprise the ever-increasing amount of inactive space hardware in orbit around the Earth as well as fragments of spacecraft that have broken up, exploded or otherwise become abandoned.
The launch of the first artificial earth satellite by the Soviet Union in 1957 marked the beginning of the utilization of space for science and commercial activity. During the cold war space was a prime area of competition between the USSR and USA, reaching its climax with the race to the moon in the 1960s. In the year 1964 the first TV satellite was launched to a geostationary orbit in order to transmit the Olympic games in Tokyo. Later Russian launching activities declined while other nations set up their own space programs. Thus, the number of objects in earth orbit increased steadily by two hundred per year on average.
Today the number of catalogued objects is about 9000.
