Out-of-control Chinese rocket booster will hurtle back to Earth on Saturday and could hit land in inhabited areas – with debris potentially coming down over Asia, Africa or North America

  • China launched another module for its new space station ‘Tiangong’ on July 24
  • But a rocket booster from China’s launch is now hurtling back towards the Earth  
  • Experts say it’s likely to hit Earth this weekend, possibly in a populated area

An out-of-control Chinese rocket booster will hurtle back to Earth this weekend – and could hit land in populated areas in Asia, Africa or North America, experts say.

The falling space debris is the result of the Long March 5B launch on July 24 to deliver the Wentian module to China‘s Tiangong Space Station.

Weighing around 22 metric tons (about 48,500 lb), it’s set to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere at 18:26 BST on Saturday, give or take six hours either way, according to Aerospace Corporation

The US nonprofit, which is tracking the debris, has highlighted a huge area of Earth where the debris could fall, but said it’s still exactly where is unknown.

As of Friday afternoon, the most recent prediction suggests it will re-enter over China, but ‘it is too soon to predict a meaningful debris footprint’, the firm told MailOnline.

Western Europe (including the UK) is not included in the area, meaning Brits are unlikely to see debris rain down this weekend.

According to Aerospace Corporation, 18:26 BST on Saturday is the centre of a predicted re-entry window with six hours either side, so it could also hit Earth Saturday lunchtime UK time (12:26) or in the early hours of Sunday (00:26).

Given that almost all of this 12-hour-long window is during Saturday, it seems re-entry is more likely to be Saturday than Sunday.