Space debris crash lands in Cosmonaut Street

Residents of the remote Russian village of Vagaitsevo were surprised when debris from a satellite that had failed to launch properly crashed in their community, hitting a house on Cosmonaut Street.

Fragments of the satellite came down after it failed to reach orbit last Friday. The owner of the house on Cosmonaut Street, Andrei Krivoruchenko, was at home with his wife at the time. He said he heard a huge noise and a crash as the debris hit the roof.

The street was named after the heroes of Russia's space programme. But the crash caps a poor year for that programme, with at least five other satellites breaking up or veering off course in 2011.