A defunct Chinese spacelab plunged through Earth’s atmosphere Monday, breaking apart as it headed towards a watery grave in the South Pacific, Beijing said. The Tiangong-1 “mostly” burnt up above the vast ocean’s central region at 8.15 am, China’s Manned Space Engineering Office said, moments after predicting a slightly later re-entry over the Atlantic. Space officials had stressed that the craft would not cause any earthly damage when it returned, with Chinese space officials saying its disintegration will offer a “splendid” show akin to a meteor shower. In contrast, Russia brought down its massive Mir space station through a controlled re-entry over the Pacific Ocean in 2001. China sent another space lab, Tiangong-2, into orbit in September 2016 as a stepping stone to its goal of having a crewed space station by 2022.

Source: Hindustan Times April 02, 2018 02:12 UTC