Thursday, September 22, 2011

UAR Satelite Falls as Space Junk

The latest projections by NASA have the UAR satellite falling to earth sometime during the afternoon of Friday September 23rd.  At that time, the satellite is not expected to be making any passes over North America. NASA expects to be able to firm up exactly where the satellite will come down over the next 24 to 36 hours.

As the re-entry time approaches the Joint Space Operations Center of U.S. Strategic Command at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California track the satellite and provide some advance warning as to where the debris will fall.  

The UAR satellite was in service up until 2005. It is the largest satellite to fall to earth since 1979, when NASA's Skylab re-entered the Earth's atmosphere.  Parts from Skylab did reach the ground, falling over western Australia over largely uninhabited areas.

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