China’s out of control Tiangong 1 space station smashed into Earth at 17,000mph off the coast of Tahiti on Monday morning and mostly disintegrated as it hit the planet’s atmosphere.
The demise of the nine-ton space station had been the subject of scientific speculation for months amid fears large chunks of it could come down near population centers.
Experts had been unable to predict where the installation, which is roughly the size of a school bus, would come down but in the end it re-entered the earth’s atmosphere over the South Pacific.
The craft re-entered the atmosphere around 8.15am Beijing time (0015GMT) and the ‘vast majority’ of it had burnt up upon re-entry, the China Manned Space Engineering Office said.
Just minutes before, their best estimate predicted that it was expected to re-enter off the Brazilian coast in the South Atlantic near the cities of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
China’s space authority said on Sunday that the station would hit speeds of nearly 17,000mph before disintegrating. They previously said its fiery disintegration would offer a ‘splendid’ show akin to a meteor shower but the remote location likely deprived stargazers of a spectacle of fireballs falling from the sky.
Scientists monitoring the craft’s disintegrating orbit had forecast the craft would mostly burn up and would pose only the slightest of risks to people. Analysis from the Beijing Aerospace Control Center showed it had mostly burned up.
Authorities said any debris from the space station would be carrying hydrazine – a high toxic rocket fuel – and warned people to refrain from touching it or inhaling its fumes.
The Aerospace Corporation had earlier predicted Tiangong 1’s re-entry would take place within two hours either side of 1.30am BST on Monday (8.30pm on Sunday in New York and 10.30am on Monday in Sydney).
