Editing Spaceflight (section)

=== Environmental considerations ===
{{Main|Space sustainability|Space debris|Graveyard orbit|Spacecraft cemetery}}
Exhaust pollution of rockets depends on the produced exhausts by the propellants reactions and the location of exhaustion. They mostly exhaust [[greenhouse gas]]es and sometimes toxic components. Particularly at higher levels of the atmosphere the potency of exhausted gases as greenhouse gases increases considerably.<ref name="Gammon 2021"/> Many solid rockets have chlorine in the form of [[perchlorate]] or other chemicals, and this can cause temporary local holes in the ozone layer. Re-entering spacecraft generate nitrates which also can temporarily impact the ozone layer. Most rockets are made of metals that can have an environmental impact during their construction.
While spaceflight altogether pollutes at a fraction of other human activities, it still does pollute heavily if calculated per passenger.<ref name="Gammon 2021">{{cite web | last=Gammon | first=Katharine | title=How the billionaire space race could be one giant leap for pollution | website=the Guardian | date=2021-07-19 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jul/19/billionaires-space-tourism-environment-emissions | access-date=2022-05-05}}</ref>

In addition to the atmospheric effects there are effects on the near-Earth space environment. There is the possibility that orbit could become inaccessible for generations due to exponentially increasing [[space debris]] caused by [[spalling]] of satellites and vehicles ([[Kessler syndrome]]). Many launched vehicles today are therefore designed to be re-entered after use.