Russian villagers scavenge fallen Soyuz junk to survive

In Russia's spacebelt, impoverished villages scavenge debris from discarded Soyuz stages and other fallen spacejunk to make ends meet:

Since the Plesetsk Space Center began operations in northern Russia forty years ago, tons of man-made debris – first stages of rockets mainly – have fallen to earth, generating both a cash opportunity for local villagers, and a source of danger, RIA Novosti recently reported.

Some villages survive only on this cosmic garbage, unable to find other ways to make ends meet…

Lesser-damaged parts are used in households: electric batteries are connected to lamps, metal sheets made of stainless alloys are used to build basements, garages, fences, water tracks and long, slim boats, much like canoes.

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(via Futurismic)

Update: Brendan sez, "I'd like to point you towards a photo essay by Jonas Bendiksen with some magnificant pictures taken of some fallen space debris in Kazakhstan."