China’s defunct Tiangong 1 space station mostly burned up on re-entry into the atmosphere Monday over the central South Pacific, Chinese space authorities said. The experimental space laboratory re-entered around 8:15 a.m. Beijing time, the China Manned Space Engineering Office said. “It could have been better, obviously, if it wasn’t tumbling, but it landed in the Southern Pacific Ocean, and that’s kind of where you hope it would land,” Tucker said. Launched in 2011, Tiangong 1 was China’s first space station, serving as an experimental platform for bigger projects, such as the Tiangong 2 launched in September 2016 and a future permanent Chinese space station. The corporation, which provides technical support for the space industry, had not been in touch with the Chinese side about the re-entry, Thompson said.

Source: Egypt Independent April 02, 2018 07:52 UTC