China’s space station due to re-enter atmosphere

China’s defunct Tiangong 1 space station was yesterday hurtling towards Earth and expected to re-enter the atmosphere in the early hours of this morning.

Most of it should burn up on re-entry, so scientists say it poses only a slight risk to people on the ground.

The European Space Agency forecast that the station would re-enter sometime between yesterday night and early today.

The Aerospace Corp predicted re-entry seven hours either side of 2am today.

Tiangong 1 is expected to come to Earth somewhere between 43 degrees north and 43 degrees south, a range covering most of the United States, China, Africa, southern Europe, Australia and South America.

Out of range are Russia, Canada and northern Europe.