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Chinese space station crashes back to Earth
Tiangong-1 said to have largely burnt up during re-entry
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This article originally appeared on ABACUS
China’s first ever space station burned up over the southern Pacific Ocean -- ending months of speculation over where and when it would fall.
According to the China Manned Space Engineering Office, most of Tiangong-1 (meaning “Heavenly Palace”) was incinerated when it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere at 8:16 p.m. ET on April 1st.
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Global attention over the space station’s fate began in 2016, when engineers lost contact with it. After initial speculation, a senior Chinese official confirmed to state media that Tiangong-1 had “ended its data service” and would fall back to the Earth.
China had repeatedly tried to assure everyone that Tiangong-1 would largely burn up after entering the atmosphere -- and any remaining debris was extremely unlikely to cause any danger. It’s a view shared by experts around the world, including the European Space Agency, which said you were way more likely to get hit by lightning than space debris.
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Usually, space agencies guide old satellites and space stations to make sure that any debris falls safely into the Spacecraft Cemetery -- a remote part of the Pacific Ocean off the eastern coast of New Zealand.
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