At the heart of northwestern Russia's Arkhangelsk Oblast lies Plesetsk Cosmodrome, a missile base built during the Cold War that's now one of the world's most active rocket launch facilities.

But as the saying goes, what goes up must come down.

Each rocket launched from Plesetsk jettisons fuel containers and spent boosters, many of which fall back down to earth in the northern Mezensky District, a restricted area more than 200 miles northeast of the base. The area's largest settlement is the town of Mezen, population 3,575.

Life in and around Mezen isn't easy. Each summer, the rivers that crisscross the area flood, overwhelming the local roads and forcing people and their goods to ford multiple rivers.

So after jettisoned rocket parts fall