Skip to footer

Falling satellite: 10 times space junk has crashed into Earth

Falling satellite trackers at NASA say it will hit Friday night or Saturday morning and has a small chance of crashing in the US. But the precise track and timing of the falling satellite is still hard to predict. Falling space junk has happened before, however, including these 10 examples.

7. February 1991: Salyut-7 space station shower Argentina

Newscom/File
Salyut-7 is seen in 1985.

  • By Andrew Mach Contributor

In February 1991, after nine years in orbit, the Russian space station Salyut-7 became one of the largest human-made objects to reenter Earth’s atmosphere. Because of its low orbit, Soviet engineers attempted to guide its descent into the Atlantic Ocean, but their efforts failed. The 88,000-pound station shed metal fragments over cities in Argentina, where unharmed residents observed glowing trails in the sky, according to the Aerospace Corporation.

7 of 10
You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.