Nearly half the objects orbiting Earth are ‘uncontrollable’ space junk — and jeopardize future space travel

Nearly half the manmade objects orbiting Earth are chunks of “uncontrollable” space junk — with just three countries fueling the problem and endangering future space travel, a shocking new study found.

At least 15,587 of the 33,269 tracked objects circling the planet are discarded debris from space launches — meaning a whopping 47% of the stuff hurtling around the planet is potentially hazardous junk, according to a May report from the engineering supply company Accu.

Those objects include at least 2,396 discarded rocket bodies — sometimes hundreds of feet across in length — 12,550 expended launch components which can vary in size and shape, and 641 objects which haven’t been classified.

The other 17,682