FOUR THINGS ABOUT A SPACE STATION

1 WHAT HAPPENED?

The Chinese space station, Tiangong 1, finally plunged through the Earth’s atmosphere somewhere over the southern Pacific Ocean at 5:16 p.m. PT on Sunday. It burst into flames and tiny pieces as it made its long-anticipated descent.

2 WAS THERE ANY REAL THREAT?

Space agencies had warned of the falling space debris — about the size of a school bus — since China lost contact with it in September 2016. The element of suspense heightened in recent weeks, as space officials maintained that there was no way to know exactly where the Tiangong 1 might strike, even as it hurtled closer and closer to Earth. The attention paid to Tiangong 1, China’s first space station in orbit, was largely due to its size — 9,000 kilograms — and the nature of its uncontrolled descent, which isn’t supposed to happen.

3 WHAT IS IT A BIG DEAL?

In the grand scheme of space debris, Tiangong, which means Heavenly Palace, won’t even crack the Top 10 of largest objects to reenter the atmosphere. Nor did it light up the sky for all to see, relegating it to a footnote in the world of space junk spectacles.

4 HAS IT EVER BEEN A BIG DEAL?

A woman was struck by a piece of space debris in Oklahoma in 1997 — the only known person in history to hold that distinction. The odds of it happening are about one in one trillion, far less than being struck by lightning. Lottie Williams was walking in a park with friends when they saw what looked like a fireball falling out of the sky. Then, she felt a tap on her shoulder. A charred, lightweight fragment of the U.S. Delta II booster had landed on her, so lightly that it didn’t injure her. “The weight was comparable to an empty soda can,” she said.