The number of man-made objects in Earth orbit has been growing each year.

VOA: special.2009.04.01

An estimated half million pieces of debris litter the Earth's orbit as a result of man's exploration of space.

VOA: standard.2010.07.24

America put a man in space, put a man in orbit, put a man on the moon, created the world's first reusable spacecraft, sent unmanned probes to other planets and led the world in making important scientific discoveries outside the Earth's atmosphere.

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The Russians responded by sending off Yuri Gagarin in 1961 to be the first man in orbit.

ECONOMIST: The race to the moon

It is true that the Soviets won some of the early heats of the space race, including being the first to put a man into orbit.

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