Spacecraft cemetery
The spacecraft cemetery, known more formally as the South Pacific Ocean Uninhabited Area, is a region in the southern Pacific Ocean east of New Zealand, where spacecraft that have reached the end of their usefulness are routinely de-orbited and destroyed. The area is roughly centered on the "Point Nemo" oceanic pole of inaccessibility – the location furthest from any land – which lies about between Easter Island, Pitcairn Island, and Antarctica. It has been chosen for this remoteness and for its limited shipping traffic, so as not to endanger human life with any falling debris.
The defunct space station Mir and six Salyut stations are among those that have been ditched there. Other spacecraft that have been routinely scuttled in the region include various unmanned resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station, including Russian Progress cargo craft, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency H-II Transfer Vehicle, and the European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle. A total of more than 263 spacecraft were disposed in this area between 1971 and 2016.
