Old NASA satellite falling from the sky this weekend, threat down

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – A retired 38-year-old NASA satellite is about to fall from the sky.

NASA said Friday that the chance of debris falling on anyone is “very low.” According to NASA, most of the 5,400-pound (2,450-kilogram) satellite will burn up on re-entry. But some pieces are expected to survive.

The space agency calculated the odds of injury from falling debris at about 1 in 9,400.

The science satellite is expected to fall on Sunday nightgive or take 17 hours, according to the Department of Defense.

The based in California Aerospace Corp., However, it aims for a track that passes through Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the westernmost areas of North and South America by Monday morning, between 1 p.m.

.The Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, known as ERBS, was launched in 1984 aboard the space shuttle Challenger. Although its intended life was two years, the satellite continued to make ozone and other atmospheric measurements until it was retired in 2005. The satellite studied how the Earth absorbed and radiated energy from the sun

The satellite received a special farewell from Challenger. America’s first woman in space, Sally Ride, put the satellite into orbit using the shuttle’s robotic arm. This same mission also featured the first spacewalk by an American woman: Kathryn Sullivan. It was the first time that two female astronauts flew together in space.

It was the second and final space flight for Ride, who died in 2012.

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