WEBVTT

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(space music)

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- Even astronauts have
to take out the trash.

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but Houston-based space company

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Nanoracks might be making
it a little easier.

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The company announced last
week that on July 2nd,

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it successfully jettisoned 172 pounds

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of garbage from the
International Space Station

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using a new waste disposal method.

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Previously, astronauts
aboard the ISS would bag

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up their trash, stockpile
it in a specific module,

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and then fill up a resupply
vehicle every few weeks.

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But Nanoracks is trying
a different approach.

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This new system is basically
a container attached

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to the Bishop airlock with a
highly engineered garbage bag.

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Astronauts can then fill up the bag

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with up to 600 pounds of trash

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where it is then flung
into the Earth's atmosphere

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to burn up in a fiery inferno.

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Nanoracks claims that this
new system will not contribute

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to the production of any space debris,

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but didn't elaborate
on how burning garbage

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may affect our atmosphere.

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To read more about the
future of spaceflight,

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check out gizmodo.com