NASA's stricken UARS satellite has fallen back to Earth in the North Pacific Ocean off the west coast of the United States with no reports of injury or damage.
The bulk of the space junk is thought to have crashed into the ocean but some debris has been reported striking land with reports pinpointing a crash site near Okotoks, near Calgary, Canada.
Observers at the Joint Space Operations Centre at Vandenburg Air Force Base in California confirmed the rogue satellite fell through the atmosphere between 11.23pm and 1.09am UDT over the Pacific.
The precise location of the splash down is still being calculated.
NASA's decommissioned Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) had been hurtling towards Earth at 18,000 mph six years after it's productive scientific life finished.
Since the beginning of the Space Age in the late-1950s, there have been no confirmed reports of an injury resulting from re-entering space objects. Nor has there been a record of significant property damage resulting from a satellite re-entry.
A spokesman for NASA said: “The satellite entered the atmosphere over the North Pacific Ocean, off the west coast of the United States. The precise re-entry time and location of any debris impacts are still being determined.
“NASA is not aware of any reports of injury or property damage.”
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