The arrival in the atmosphere and the fall of the remains of the Chinese space station Tiangong I is expected in the coming days.
The "heavenly palace" is the first Chinese space station and at the same time the first element of the Tiangong program, which assumed the placing on the orbit of a large, modular station by 2023. According to the original plans, launched on September 29, 2011, Tiangong-1 was to be removed from the orbit in 2013 and in the following years replaced by the larger modules Tiangong-2 and Tiangong-3.
After the module's on-board systems failed, they had to abandon the controlled import from orbit. From that time, the station remained dormant, heading for the inevitable end that will occur in the coming days.
Is there anything to fear? The probability that someone will get hurt during a fall is very little and it would be the first such case in history.
Although practically until the last moment we will not know the specific place of the fall, it must be between the 43rd latitude of the northern and the 43rd south (so far from our borders).
Although the mass of 8 tons may seem large, it is a relatively small object - let us remind you that MIR weighed over 100 tons. This means that most stations will burn in the atmosphere, and much smaller fragments will drop to the ground surface.