What goes up must come down

A Chinese attempt at a space station will crash to Earth the first week of April and it's possible -- but not likely -- it could land on the U.S.

Space expert Keith Cowing says it's coming down because the Chinese lost control of it a few years ago.

"Welcome to the space age; the more stuff we put up there the more we have to worry about it coming back."

Cowing says it could do some heavy damage if it hit a populated area, but it's most likely to hit the ocean. Someday the International Space Station will be in the same situation.

"I don't think they'd allow it to come back like this but this the prospect of what happens when you place large pieces of your civilization in outer space."

Cowing says there's nothing we can do about the Chinese space junk, but the odds of it hitting us are about like a lottery in reverse.

"The reason it's crashing is the Chinese lost control of it a couple of years back; we can't tell it to do anything because it won't do whatever we tell it to do, so it's coming in -- there's nothing we can do to stop it."

If it were to hit a populated area it could do some major damage, but it's most likely to hit the ocean the first week of April. The chance to hit land -- low as it may be -- is highest in Europe, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.


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