reentry

(Newser) - China's "Heavenly Palace" will tumble to Earth within weeks, experts say. Two new estimates suggest the Tiangong-1 space lab will fall from space in an uncontrolled re-entry in late March or early April. According to a "highly variable" estimate put forth Tuesday, the European Space Agency predicts...

(Newser) - NASA's just-crashed UARS satellite may have been the size of a bus and weighed 6 tons, but, because of its speed and uncertainty about the exact time it hit the Earth, scientists say they don't know exactly where their space junk crashed, reports the Chicago Tribune . "We...

(Newser) - Space shuttle Atlantis and its seven astronauts are back on Earth. The shuttle landed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida this morning, swooping through a clear sky. The touchdown ended an 11-day flight in which the astronauts spent time stockpiling the International Space Station with big spare parts.

(Newser) - Atlantis astronauts found some minor damage to the shuttle’s heat shield during an arduous, nine-hour inspection today, Space.com reports, with NASA officials saying nicks sustained during liftoff weren’t a serious concern, but that more analysis was needed. Astronauts will inspect the shield—vital to the shuttle’s...