Tiangong-1: Track out-of-control Chinese space station as it plunges down to Earth

Experts have warned we probably won't know when it will fall until just moments before

What is the Chinese space station crashing down to earth?

China's Tiangong-1 space station is plunging towards the Earth.

The satellite, known as "Celestial Palace", has lost touch with its engineers in China and so will drop into the atmosphere without being controlled. But even that is guesswork: the Chinese space agency has not said publicly that the space station is out-of-control, let alone revealed any details about what is on board or where it will drop.

It's not clear where or when it will fall. But it's likely to drop down sometime in the next few hours, and some of it might make it through the Earth's atmosphere and drop to the ground.

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[2 April 2018 02:21 · Steve Anderson]

The US is now stating that Tiangong-1 re-entered the atmosphere at around 5.16am PT, which would be the same time as Chinese state media was reporting.

[2 April 2018 03:25 · Steve Anderson]

Here is a report on the space station re-entering the atmosphere. We are closing our coverage for now. Thanks for reading.