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China's Space Station Falling Out of Orbit, But No One Knows When Or Where

As China prepares for its first space station to fall back to Earth, a second station begins its tenure.

China's Space Station Falling Out of Orbit, But No One Knows When Or Where

Next year, China’s space station will fall out of the sky.

China launched Tiangong-1, its first orbiting laboratory, in 2011, and since then it has been home to a rotating cast of experiments and astronauts. In 2013, Tiangong-1’s primary mission period ended, so China put the spacecraft into “sleep mode” and stopped sending astronauts to the station, although data continued to stream in about how parts were holding up on the empty, dormant station. In March of this year, Tiangong-1, which translates to “Heavenly Palace,” was shut down for good.

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