Chinese Space Station's Crash to Earth: Everything You Need to Know

[Judi Lynn]

By Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer | March 26, 2018 08:46am ET

China's first prototype space station, Tiangong-1, will come crashing back to Earth between March 30 and April 2 in an uncontrolled re-entry, give or take a few days, according to the latest forecast by the European Space Agency. Read on for a primer on the space lab and its mission, as well as links to Tiangong-1 stories, galleries and infographics.

Last Updated: 03/26/2018 15:53

Tiangong-1, whose name translates as "Heavenly Palace-1," launched without anyone aboard on Sept. 29, 2011. It settled into an orbit about 217 miles (350 kilometers) above Earth — a little lower than the International Space Station, whose average altitude is 250 miles (400 km).

The 9.4-ton (8.5 metric tons) Tiangong-1 is about 34 feet long by 11 feet wide (10.4 by 3.4 meters) and features 530 cubic feet (15 cubic m) of habitable internal volume. [China's Tiangong-1 Space Lab in Pictures]

Tiangong-1 consists of two components: a "resource module," which contains the space lab's solar-power and propulsion systems, and an "experimental module" that accommodated astronauts and scientific work. The experimental module features two beds and some exercise gear, but it doesn't have a bathroom or kitchen; these latter facilities were provided by the spacecraft that visited Tiangong-1.

And other spacecraft did visit. That was the focus of Tiangong-1's successful mission, after all; the space lab was lofted primarily to test the docking and rendezvous technologies that China will need to build a bona fide space station in Earth orbit, which the nation plans to do by the early 2020s.

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[KY_EnviroGuy]

1. Thanks, Judi Lynn.

I'll be watching Space.com next week for updates. I see the Germans are tracking this thing using a specialized radar and they will be helping update the trajectory as it starts to descend.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Reminds me of July 11, 1979 when

Skylab crashed to Earth.

[trotsky]

3. Did you see this part?

Tiangong-1 won't be the biggest spacecraft ever to fall uncontrolled from the sky. In July 1979, for example, NASA's 85-ton Skylab space station burned up over the Indian Ocean and Western Australia. Some big chunks survived the fall, and the Australian town of Esperance famously sued NASA $400 for littering.

[Sancho]

4. We are ready in Florida!!!