So, when an out-of-control Tiangong-1 comes plummeting to earth in a superheated trail of plasma and space debris, it may literally be an April Fool’s joke. The lab was returning from where it came, they were certain, but when and where it would crash was out of anyone’s control. That friction will also likely surround parts of the craft in superheated plasma. But don’t let that whole “superheated plasma thing” fool you. “In the history of spaceflight, no known person has ever been harmed by reentering space debris,” Aerospace said in January.

Source: Washington Post March 24, 2018 22:39 UTC