International Campaign Will Monitor Fall of China's Tiangong-1 Space Lab

Skywatchers are on the lookout for China's Tiangong-1 space lab — and the seeing is good.

Tiangong-1 (whose name translates as "heavenly palace") launched into Earth orbit in late September 2011. It was used for six successive rendezvous and dockings with three different spacecraft — Shenzhou-8 (unmanned), Shenzhou-9 (piloted) and Shenzhou-10 (piloted) — as part of China's human space exploration activities.

But in March 2016, Tiangong-1 ceased functioning. The unmanned space lab, which weighed 18,740 lbs. (8,500 kilograms) at launch, is now predicted to fall back to Earth in late January 2018, plus or minus one month, according to a forecast generated by researchers at The Aerospace Corporation on Oct. 31. [Gallery: Tiangong 1, China's First Space Laboratory]

"It is unlikely that this is a controlled re-entry," The Aerospace Corporation wrote in a Tiangong-1 re-entry FAQ. "Although not declared officially, it is suspected that control of Tiangong-1 was lost and will not be regained before re-entry."

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