China's defunct Tiangong-1 space lab breaks up over South Pacific
- 6 years ago
Now, an update on the re-entry of China's space lab that has been steadily falling back to Earth…
It's been confirmed that the decommissioned Tiangong-1 has re-entered the atmosphere and broken up over the South Pacific.
Park Se-young has more.
China's Tiangong-1 space module re-entered the Earth's atmosphere at around 8:15 a.m. Beijing time on Monday.
According to China's Manned Space Engineering Office, the defunct space lab plummeted into the middle of the South Pacific and most parts turned to ash in the re-entry process.
Beijing said last Friday that it was unlikely any large pieces would reach the ground,…with a mere ten percent of the eight-and-a-half-ton spacecraft likely to survive.
The odds that the debris caused any damage or injury are extremely small, according to experts.
The bus-sized Tiangong-1, whose name translates as "Heavenly Place 1," was put into orbit in 2011 as a prototype for China's ambitious space program, …which aims to place a permanent station into orbit by 2023.
In May of last year, China told the United Nations that the space lab had (quote) "ceased functioning" in March 2016 …without saying why.
The re-entry was originally said to occur in late 2017 but the process was delayed, …which led experts to suggest the space lab was out of control.
Park Se-young, Arirang News.
It's been confirmed that the decommissioned Tiangong-1 has re-entered the atmosphere and broken up over the South Pacific.
Park Se-young has more.
China's Tiangong-1 space module re-entered the Earth's atmosphere at around 8:15 a.m. Beijing time on Monday.
According to China's Manned Space Engineering Office, the defunct space lab plummeted into the middle of the South Pacific and most parts turned to ash in the re-entry process.
Beijing said last Friday that it was unlikely any large pieces would reach the ground,…with a mere ten percent of the eight-and-a-half-ton spacecraft likely to survive.
The odds that the debris caused any damage or injury are extremely small, according to experts.
The bus-sized Tiangong-1, whose name translates as "Heavenly Place 1," was put into orbit in 2011 as a prototype for China's ambitious space program, …which aims to place a permanent station into orbit by 2023.
In May of last year, China told the United Nations that the space lab had (quote) "ceased functioning" in March 2016 …without saying why.
The re-entry was originally said to occur in late 2017 but the process was delayed, …which led experts to suggest the space lab was out of control.
Park Se-young, Arirang News.