Kazakhstan's Spaceship Junkyard

Richard W.M. Jones writes "What happens to the booster stages of rockets? They fall back to earth, and in most cases into the oceans. But not in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, where the first stages fall over populated farmland. The locals have become rich dealing in the titanium-rich scrap metal as this article and this remarkable photo essay show. So far the only casualties seem to have been a few dead cows."

In Soviet Russia...

[nxtr]

...rocket falls on YOU!

Dead cows...

[eurleif]

So that's how cattle mutilations happen!

Server going down?

[Lingur]

I predict that the server will go down like the boosters. First, heating up, then, burning up, and finally, nothing but scrap metal.

Mooo!

[Lord Apathy]

Sucks to be a cow ...

cultofthedeadcow

[sentientbeing]

I hope this isnt the same server that is used to guide the rockets or theres gonna be a hell of a lot more dead cows

cow tipping

[antiaktiv]

damn, those russians are hardcore cow tippers. who'd have thought?

In Soviet Russia

[bergeron76]

In Soviet Russia, people don't seek rocket; Rocket seek people.

Thank you!

[firepacket]

So far the only casualties seem to have been a few dead cows

Thank you SO MUCH. I have found my new background.

Priceless

[ChePibe]

Rocket hitting your barn full of cows, sheep, and Soviet Bloc farm equipment - 677912345234621 Rubles (roughly $20 US). Reselling the rocket to random scrap metal dealers - priceless, or at least 76790823485724429234 rubles (roughly $45 US).

Re:Mooo!

[NanoGator]

"Sucks to be a cow ..."

Must... resist... yo mama... joke...

I cringed

[saskboy]

First I cringed about locals harvesting space junk. Then I cringed at the words, " this remarkable photo essay show," knowing that meant I wouldn't get to see the photos, and there will be some server junk for the locals to harvest next.

Re:Slashdot posts this...

[Roofus]

That's not a story, it's seven sentences.

Of course, /. has posted stories based off nothing but a "my sister's boyfriend's best friend's uncle's janitor's hairdress told him that some unknown Microsoft VP told the guy in the stall next to him..."

Re:Wow..

[myowntrueself]

"And if it killed someone, they could just sell the titanium, and it would be OK, right?"

I don't know... how much titanium is there in a human body?

Re:What killed the cows?

[jericho4.0]

The cows were killed by a booster falling into a river, damming the river and creating a lake. The lake provided habitat for fowl, which hosted a particularly insidious bird flu. This caused the Russian authorities to kill all birds, people and cows in a 10 mile radius.

One cow was almost killed by a direct impact, but managed to pull through after weeks of intensive care.

Re:Slashdot posts this...

[darkewolf]

Even funnier, I read the article about the mutant Chernobyl children and the in-page-advert was from Microsoft and included dinosaured headed people in shirts-and-tie talking around the office. I thought it was a spoof article at first with pictures of Godzilla like kids ;)

Re:Server going down?

[NoseBag]

Thank you!

Since you were the first to most graciously post the article from the (so predictably) now-slashdotted server, you win.....(drum roll)....

ONE SIDE OF KAZAKHSTANI BOOSTER-SMACKED BEEF!

Yes good comrade...Kazakhstani beef. Not a substitute! This beef was slow-marinated in pure slavic hydrazine - no oxygen here! - after being gently but firmly caressed by a 13-ton booster moving at terminal velocity! Range-smacked! Bones and cartillage removed or pulverized in a split-instant! No abattoir farm for the Kazakhstani!

Bon Apetite!

Re:I liked Kazakhstan

[Anonymous Coward]

I did find the food to be somewhat unique. Breakfast was usually a kind of roll filled with either finely chopped vegetables and/or finely ground meat. I don't know what sort of meat it was and it wasn't even always clear which buns had meat as everything was so finely ground up. It was all tasty though.

After getting hit with a 20 ton chink of metal the meat would be finely ground wouldn't it.

Hmmmm...

[jpellino]

The object the woman's hiolding in photo essay pic #8 looks suspiciously like the things Arthur, Ford, & Zaphod were getting slapped in the face with enroute to rescue Trillian...

Re:Priceless

[Sponge Bath]

at least 76790823485724429234 rubles (roughly $45 US)

... or about 1.5 euros

Re:I liked Kazakhstan

[natrius]

Lunch was fairly straight forward but the dessert was a peculiar electric green sweet foam.

Falling space junk and electric green food don't sound like that great of a combination.

Especially if it's during an air raid in 1941.

Are you my mummy?

It could have been worse

[Anonymous Coward]

So far the only casualties seem to have been a few dead cows.

Thank god they were already dead!

Re:Titanium is a pain to weld or melt in the house

[Infinity Salad]

People do seem to think that titanium is some kind of indestructable super-metal

I recall one time I saw AC/DC, a fellow next to me in front of the stage (read mosh pit) lost his glasses. Normally, one would be concerned - but not this guy. "My glasses have titanium frames, they will be fine!" We found them at the end of the show.

I still remember the look on his face when we found them - he just stared slack-jawed at the twisted ball of metal in his palm.

Re:Titanium is a pain to weld or melt in the house

[HansieC]

Counter 5 Heat the ring up to 1338 degrees so that it can then be easily worked off the finger without needing to worry about injuring the finger with ungainly 'ring cutters'.

Borat says...

[Invalid Character]

Yek She Mesh!
I am Borat and I come from Kazshakstan. I have beeg hhhram, it is beeg like ze booster rockets. Do you want to touch my hhhram? It izsh naice.
No? Can I touch youaz?

Very dissapointed

[B747SP]

The cows apparently die due to rocket fuel poisoned soil, not by being hit by the spent booster stages.

Am I the only one who is really very dissapointed by that? I was really looking forward to some pics of some very flat cows.

Re:Server going down?

[kpansky]

Its pining for the fjords.