Tiangong-1: Chinese space station finally falls to Earth over South Pacific after years of uncontrolled flight in orbit

China's Tiangong-1 space station has re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and burnt up over the middle of the South Pacific, according to the Chinese space authority said.

The craft re-entered the atmosphere around 8.15am Beijing time (12.15am GMT) and the “vast majority” of it had burnt up upon re-entry, the authority said in a brief statement on its website. It had said shortly before 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.

The United States Air Force 18th Space Control Squadron, which tracks and detects all artificial objects in earth's orbit, said they had also tracked the Tiangong-1 as it re-entered the atmosphere over the South Pacific.

It said in a statement they had confirmed re-entry in coordination with counterparts in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Britain.

The 10.4-metre-long (34.1-foot) Tiangong-1, or “Heavenly Palace 1”, was launched in 2011 to carry out docking and orbit experiments as part of China's ambitious space programme, which aims to place a permanent station in orbit by 2023.

It was originally planned to be decommissioned in 2013 but its mission was repeatedly extended.

China had said its re-entry would occur in late 2017 but that process was delayed, leading some experts to suggest the space laboratory was out of control.

The Chinese tabloid Global Times said on Monday worldwide media hype about the re-entry reflected overseas “envy” of China's space industry.

“It's normal for spacecraft to re-enter the atmosphere, yet Tiangong-1 received so much attention partly because some Western countries are trying to hype and sling mud at China's fast-growing aerospace industry,” it said.

Tiangong-1 was China's first space station, serving as an experimental platform for bigger projects, such as the Tiangong-2 launched in September 2016 and a future permanent Chinese space station.

Two crews of Chinese astronauts lived on the station while testing docking procedures and other operations. Its last crew departed in 2013 and contact with it was cut in 2016.

Since then, it has orbited gradually closer and closer to Earth on its own while being monitored.

Earlier forecasts had said only about 10 per cent of the bus-sized, 8.5-ton spacecraft would likely survive re-entry, mainly its heavier components such as its engines. Beijing said that it was unlikely any large pieces would reach the ground.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report