A research satellite that weighs nearly six tons is on it's way back to earth, the hard way, via an uncontrolled re-entry.
Experts at Vandenberg Air Force Base, and NASA are predicting that the now defunct Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS, will re-enter the atmosphere sometime on Friday.
The Aerospace Corporation here in California, in fact, predicts that re-entry will occur over the Pacific early Friday afternoon, give or take 14 hours.
Most of the satellite is expected to burn up in the atmosphere, but an estimated 26 pieces, that's about 1,200 pounds, could survive and hit the earth.
Since nearly three-quarters of the world is covered with water, NASA is anticipating a splashdown rather than a landing.
NASA puts the chances at 1 in 3,200 that someone, somewhere will be hit.
The 20-year-old Upper Research Atmosphere Satellite will be the biggest NASA spacecraft to fall uncontrolled from the sky in 32 years.
In 1979 Skylab, America's first space station, fell to Earth sending pieces crashing onto Australia and into the ocean.
Three more satellites are poised to make uncontrolled entries into our atmosphere, with the next free fall expected in April of 2014.
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