What goes up must come down
China’s Tiangong-1 space station is expected to fall to Earth in late March, but it’s hardly the first (or most massive) manmade object to plunge through the planet’s atmosphere. At nearly 19,000 pounds, Tiangong-1 is huge, but here’s how the space station stacks up to other structures that have plummeted back to the planet. And for comparison, we’ve included the International Space Station, which is still in operation but may one day be decommissioned in a similar manner.
| Object | Weight (lbs) | Reentry date | Reentry type | Reentry location | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Mir(USSR) | 268,000 | 03/23/2001 | Controlled | Pacific Ocean |
 |
Skylab(USA) | 169,950 | 07/11/1979 | Uncontrolled | Indian Ocean/Western Australia |
 |
Salyut 7(USSR) | 43,704 | 02/07/1991 | Uncontrolled | Argentina |
 |
Salyut 6(USSR) | 43,700 | 07/29/1982 | Controlled | Unknown |
 |
Cosmos 557(USSR) | 42,769 | 05/22/1973 | Uncontrolled | Unknown |
 |
International Space Station | 925,335 | 2028 (Expected) | Still in orbit | TBD |
 |
Tiangong-1(China) | 18,800 | 03/2018 (Expected) | Still in orbit | TBD |
Sources: NASA, Getty Images, The Aerospace Corporation
Interactive: Jiachuan Wu / NBC News