CAPE CANAVERAL, FL –
A 38-year-old retired NASA satellite is about to fall from the sky.
NASA said Friday that the chance of the debris landing on anyone was “very small.” Most of the 5,400-pound (2,450-kilogram) satellite will burn up on re-entry, according to NASA. But some pieces are expected to survive.
The space agency puts the odds of injury from falling debris at about 1 in 9,400.
The science satellite is expected to touch down Sunday evening, around 5 p.m., according to the Defense Department.
California-based Aerospace Corp. however, it is headed for Monday morning, plus or minus 1 p.m., on a track that passes over Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the westernmost regions of the Americas.
.The low-cost Earth Radiation Satellite, known as ERBS, was launched in 1984 aboard the space shuttle Challenger. Although its expected operational life was two years, the satellite continued to make ozone and other atmospheric measurements until its retirement in 2005. The satellite studied how Earth absorbs and radiates energy from the sun.
The satellite received a special send-off from Challenger. The first American woman in space, Sally Ride, launched the satellite into orbit with the help of the shuttle’s robotic arm. The same mission also included the first spacewalk by an American woman: Katherine Sullivan. It was the first time two female astronauts flew together in space.
It was the second and final space flight for Reid, who died in 2012.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Division is supported by the Science and Education Media Group of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. AP is solely responsible for all content.
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