What Goes Up, Must Come Down

NASA is putting out the word that a space satellite that went into orbit 20 years ago will fall out of orbit sometime this month or next.  While most of it will burn up in the extreme heat of re-entry, some pieces of it will make it all the way down to the ground.

Heads up! That's the word from NASA about the impending re-entry of a 6.5-ton satellite.

The huge Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) is expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere in an uncontrolled fall in late September or early October.

The satellite was launched in 1991 aboard NASA's space shuttle Discovery and was decommissioned on Dec. 14, 2005.  It's 35 feet long, 15 feet wide, and weighs nearly 1200 pounds.

The space agency says it will do everything possible to keep the public informed about pieces of the spacecraft that are expected to survive re-entry.

via Huge Defunct Satellite to Plunge to Earth Soon, NASA Says | UARS Satellite Falling From Space & NASA Space Debris | Space Junk & Orbital Debris | Space.com.

There 's so much space "junk" in orbit that the entire planet Earth could someday be declared a "hard hat zone."   That cloud of orbiting junk consists of hundreds of space satellites, and thousands of pieces of space hardware and assorted stuff" left in orbit by all the space missions that have gone up there over the years.

Even so, a statement from NASA says "The risk to public safety or property is extremely small, and safety is NASA's top priority."

The statement goes on to say that since the beginning of the Space Age in the late-1950s, there have been no confirmed reports of anyone being injured by re-entering space objects.