A defunct Chinese space lab has re-entered Earth's atmosphere and mostly burned up, authorities in Beijing said late Sunday.
It was not immediately clear if the remains of the space station, known as Tiangong-1, had been accounted for.
The U.S. Strategic Command's Joint Force Space Component Command confirmed that Tiangong-1 re-entered Earth's atmopshere over the South Pacific Ocean at 8:16 p.m. ET.
A rogue Chinese space station that weighs 8.5 tons is hurtling toward Earth. (European Space Agency)
Tiangong-1 was launched in 2011 and ended service in 2016 after completing its mission.
Although the Chinese station has received intense media coverage, each year around 1,000 large objects such as lost satellites and rocket stages fall back to Earth. These numbers are projected to increase over the coming years as more and more satellites are placed into orbit.
In this June 13, 2013, file image released by China's Xinhua News Agency, the Shenzhou-10 manned spacecraft is seen while conducting docking with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space module. (AP)
Only one person is known to have been hit by falling space debris: American woman Lottie Williams, who was struck but not injured by a falling piece of a U.S. Delta II rocket while exercising in an Oklahoma park in 1997.
Most famously, America's 77-ton Skylab crashed through the atmosphere in 1979, spreading pieces of wreckage near the southwestern Australia city of Perth, which fined the U.S. $400 for littering.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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