China's Tiangong-1 space station, launched in 2011, is falling to Earth, and the European Space Agency estimates it will crash and burn between March 31 and April 2, though the April 1 disintegration date is "highly variable." Tiangong-1 ("Heavenly Palace-1") hosted two crews of Chinese astronauts, or taikonauts, in 2012 and 2013, but it has actually been orbiting out of control since at least June 2016. Whenever it finally enters the atmosphere, "most of it, though not all, should burn up during the fiery re-entry," NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce says. For the parts that don't, "the possible impact zone covers about two-thirds of the globe, including a lot of the continental United States."
In its animated simulation of the crash, USA Today says that debris from Tiangong-1 could fall anywhere from Oregon to Connecticut, though the odds of anyone being injured by falling metal is incredibly small.
When America's first space station, Skylab, fell to Earth in 1979, NPR recalls, it was "an international media event," but even though Skylab was twice as long and wide as the school bus–sized Tiangong-1 and 10 times as heavy, its debris that scattered across Western Australia did not cause any injuries.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Peter Mandelson called Epstein his 'best pal' in birthday noteSpeed Read The UK's ambassador to Washington described the late convicted paedophile as an 'intelligent, sharp-witted man'
-
A Spinal Tap reunion, Thomas Pynchon by way of Paul Thomas Anderson and a harrowing Stephen King adaptation in September moviesthe week recommends This month's new releases include 'Spinal Tap II,' 'One Battle After Another' and 'The Long Walk'
-
'Vampire energy' could be causing your electric bill to riseUnder the Radar Wasted energy could account for up to 10% of home use
-
SpaceX breaks Starship losing streak in 10th testspeed read The Starship rocket's test flight was largely successful, deploying eight dummy satellites during its hour in space
-
Rabbits with 'horns' sighted across Coloradospeed read These creatures are infected with the 'mostly harmless' Shope papilloma virus
-
Lithium shows promise in Alzheimer's studySpeed Read Potential new treatments could use small amounts of the common metal
-
Scientists discover cause of massive sea star die-offSpeed Read A bacteria related to cholera has been found responsible for the deaths of more than 5 billion sea stars
-
'Thriving' ecosystem found 30,000 feet underseaSpeed Read Researchers discovered communities of creatures living in frigid, pitch-black waters under high pressure
-
New York plans first nuclear plant in 36 yearsSpeed Read The plant, to be constructed somewhere in upstate New York, will produce enough energy to power a million homes
-
Dehorning rhinos sharply cuts poaching, study findsSpeed Read The painless procedure may be an effective way to reduce the widespread poaching of rhinoceroses
-
Breakthrough gene-editing treatment saves babyspeed read KJ Muldoon was healed from a rare genetic condition
