China's first experimental space lab could fall back to Earth by the weekend but would not cause any damage to the ground, the Chinese military and space authorities said today. The approximate re-entry location cannot be determined until the last two hours before it starts to fall, China's space authorities reiterated, state-run Global Times said. Earlier Chinese Defence spokesman Colonel Ren Gouging said China has briefed all relevant international agencies including the UN about the re-entry of the space lab. Launched in September 2011, Tiangong-1, the experimental space station, had a design life of two years. China plans to finalise its space station to rival Mir, the Russian space station currently in orbit by 2022.

Source: dna March 29, 2018 18:57 UTC