Why is there so much debris orbiting Earth right now?

There are a lot of things floating around Earth because people have been sending stuff up there for a long time.

Imagine you're playing in your backyard with your friends. Every time someone throws a ball, it lands somewhere, sometimes on the grass, sometimes in a tree, or even in the neighbor's yard. But what if every time someone threw a ball, they also left their old toys, socks, and snacks up in the air? That’s like what happens when we send spacecraft and satellites to orbit Earth.

Each time a rocket goes up, it leaves behind pieces of itself, like the parts that drop off after the satellite is already there. These are called debris. It’s kind of like when you take apart your toy robot and leave all the little pieces on the floor.

Now imagine every kid in your school brought their own toys to play with, and nobody picked up the ones they didn’t use anymore. That’s why there are so many things floating around Earth, because we keep sending new stuff up, but we don’t always clean up after ourselves.