• ESA’s final Cluster spacecraft Tango set for targeted reentry over the South Pacific on September 1

    ByReet Kaur

    The European Space Agency (ESA) predicts that Tango, the fourth and final Cluster spacecraft, will reenter Earth’s atmosphere over a remote part of the South Pacific Ocean at 21:30:31 UTC on September 1, 2026, with an uncertainty of ±10 seconds. ESA said at 11:10 UTC that the ROSIE team was flying out again from Tonga to observe the breakup with an aircraft carrying 30 instruments, one day after successfully recording the reentry of Tango’s sister spacecraft Samba.

  • Chinese ZQ-3 R/B rocket stage expected to re-enter atmosphere over Europe today

    ByTeo Blašković

    An uncontrolled atmospheric re-entry of the Chinese ZQ-3 R/B second stage, weighing about 11 tonnes, is expected over Europe on January 30, 2026. EU Space Surveillance and Tracking (EU SST) reports a predicted re-entry centered near 11:20 UTC ± 48 minutes. National sensors coordinated through the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) and EU SST Operations Centres are tracking the object and assessing potential airspace impacts south of Denmark and in the Baltic region.

  • ESA confirms controlled reentry plan for Cluster satellite Rumba on October 22

    ByTeo Blašković

    ESA is preparing the second targeted atmospheric reentry of its long-running Cluster mission, with the spacecraft Rumba expected to descend into Earth’s atmosphere over a remote region of the South Pacific Ocean on October 22, 2025. The maneuver will follow the first controlled reentry of Salsa in September 2024 and continues ESA’s program to end the 24-year mission through precise, safe disposal of each satellite.

  • SpaceX Starship ninth test flight ends in dual vehicle loss

    ByReet Kaur

    SpaceX’s ninth Starship test flight on May 27, 2025, resulted in the failure of both the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage. A propellant leak and uncontrolled spin led to the upper stage’s destruction during re-entry, while the booster was lost during its landing attempt.

  • SpaceX Dragon CRS-32 returns with sonic boom, splashes down near the coast of California

    ByReet Kaur

    A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft concluded the CRS-32 commercial resupply mission with a sonic boom and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Oceanside, California, at 01:44 EDT (05:44 UTC) on May 25, 2025. The spacecraft returned approximately 3 040 kg (6 700 pounds) of cargo from the International Space Station, including scientific experiments and crew supplies.