China's defunct and reportedly out-of-control Tiangong 1 space station is expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere sometime this weekend. Below are some questions and answers about the station, its re-entry and the past and future of China's ambitious space program. The Chinese space agency's latest estimate puts re-entry between Saturday and Wednesday. Launched in 2011, Tiangong 1 was China's first space station, serving as an experimental platform for bigger projects such as the Tiangong 2 launched in September 2016 and a future permanent Chinese space station. China was excluded from the 420-ton International Space Station mainly due to U.S. legislation barring such cooperation and concerns over the Chinese space program's strong military connections.

Source: ABC News March 29, 2018 07:14 UTC