From the British paper The Register, reporting on the ammonia-laden refrigerator being ejected from the International Space Station:
ASTRONAUT SPACE DUMP PONG-BOMB FRAG SHOWER TODAY
ISS Stinky fridge hurl plunge shocker.
Now that’s the poetry of science. The story is remarkably more prosaic….
The refrigeration unit in question is the Early Ammonia System (EAS), a 1400lb tank intended to furnish backup supplies of the unpleasant-smelling coolant to the space station in the early stages of its construction. As the ISS neared completion it became surplus to requirements.
The disused stink-tank might more normally have been shipped back to Earth aboard a space shuttle, but in the end no room was found. Astronaut Clay Anderson dealt with the problem briskly (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/24/space_fridge_dump_shocker/) in July last year, flinging the hefty three-quarter-ton unit off the end of the space station’s robot arm along with an old camera mounting also deemed no longer necessary.
In the year-plus since, the orbital pong-bomb has gradually slowed down due to the friction exerted by the extreme upper atmosphere, thus descending and becoming subject to more friction and so on. In effect, the EAS has hung above our heads like an evil-smelling Sword of Damocles, which might suddenly plunge down to release its payload of eyewatering space niff at any time.
OK, maybe not *remarkably*.
Anyway, if you’re worried, molten remnants of the aromatic cooling unit splashed down harmlessly in the Tasman Sea.