However, falling space junk has yet to injure a person on land, and analysts doubt there’s great risk of anyone getting crushed by a piece of the Chinese space lab. And the lab’s impending demise doesn’t mean that China’s space program is in trouble. China’s permanent space station could open just as the International Space Station — to which it does not belong — winds down. “It is making steady progress toward that goal.”Even as it gains momentum, China’s space program lacks a clear organizational structure. Rumors like the crash of Tiangong-1 “tend to circulate because we don’t have a normal relationship with China’s space community,” Kulacki said.

Source: Los Angeles Times September 22, 2016 20:00 UTC