A 38-year-old retired NASA satellite is about to fall out of the sky.
NASA said on Friday that the likelihood of the wreckage falling on anyone was “very low.” In response to NASA, most of the 5,400-pound satellite will burn up upon reentry. But some pieces are expected to survive.
The space agency estimated the probability of injury from falling debris to be about 1 in 9,400.
The science satellite is anticipated to drop Sunday nightadd or take 17 hours, in accordance with the Department of Defense.
Based in California Aviation Corporation, nevertheless, it targets Monday morning, plus or minus 13 hours, along a track that passes through Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the westernmost reaches of North and South America.
The Earth Radiation Budget satellite, generally known as ERBS, was launched in 1984 aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. Although the satellite’s expected lifetime was two years, the satellite continued to measure ozone and other atmospheric parameters until it was decommissioned in 2005. The satellite studied how the Earth absorbs and radiates solar energy.
![The Earth Radiation Budget satellite was launched from the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1984.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/AP23006801267851.jpg?w=1024)
The satellite received a special farewell from Challenger. The primary American woman in space, Sally Ride, launched a satellite into orbit using a shuttle robotic arm. The identical mission also included the first American spacewalk: Kathryn Sullivan. It was the first time two female astronauts had gone into space together.
This was Ride’s second and final spaceflight, which died in 2012.