China has lowered the orbit of its Tiangong-2 space lab, likely in preparation for deorbiting the orbital facility and thus averting a similar scenario to the uncontrolled re-entry of Tiangong-1 ...

The initial dip prompted some speculation that China was preparing to deorbit Tiangong-2. But the boost back up to 242 miles suggests that something else is going on, McDowell said.

The final hours for China's Tiangong-2 space station are at hand, as the 8-ton piece of hardware will fall to earth, or rather sea, some time in the next 20 hours or so in a controlled deorbit ...

Stays on the station were limited to one month. Tiangong-2 was the successor to Tiangong-1, which was launched in 2011 and had an unplanned deorbit last year.

China’s second space lab will return to Earth in July 2019 in a controlled destruction, the country’s space agency said Wednesday.

China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) on Saturday announced its plan to deorbit Tiangong-2 space lab in the near future. The controlled re-entry in the atmosphere after successfully ...

On Sept. 20, the management committee for the Tiangong-2 space lab had decided the space lab would stay in orbit until July 2019, when it would deorbit under manual control, he added.

Originally set to deorbit in 2013, Tiangong-1's lifespan was extended by two years before its comms went silent.

After the spectacle of Tiangong-1's careening, uncontrolled re-entry earlier in the year, it made sense that China might want to bring down Tiangong-2 in a more controlled manner as soon as possible.

The initial dip prompted some speculation that China was preparing to deorbit Tiangong-2. But the boost back up to 242 miles suggests that something else is going on, McDowell said.