Size 03 - Showers Baby

NASA satellite falls to earth

24.09.11

Re-entry of the defunct satellite - about the size of a bus - was expected between 03:45 and 04:45 GMT on Saturday, NASA said. The US space agency, NASA, says its six-tonne Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite has plunged to earth, showering debris over a still unknown part of the planet. NASA now plans for the controlled re-entry of large spacecraft, but it did not when UARS was designed. Russia's last space station, the 135-tonne Mir, crashed into the Pacific Ocean in 2001, but it was a guided descent. It is slimmer in comparison to NASA's 75-tonne Skylab station, which crashed to earth in 1979. 5 metres in diameter, is the largest American space agency satellite to plummet uncontrolled into the atmosphere in about 30 years. NASA was attempting to confirm the re-entry location and time. During that period, the UARS passed over Canada and Africa, as well as vast areas of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.

Source: MWC News