Falling satellite: 10 times space junk has crashed into Earth

Falling satellite trackers at NASA say it will hit Friday night or Saturday morning and has a small chance of crashing in the US. But the precise track and timing of the falling satellite is still hard to predict. Falling space junk has happened before, however, including these 10 examples.

9. January 1978: Soviet satellite crashes in Canada, spreads nuclear waste

In mid-September 1977, Kosmos 954, a Soviet surveillance satellite, crashed into northern Canada after spiraling out of control. The satellite contained a nuclear reactor, which meant the crash scattered nuclear waste over thousands of square miles, according to reports from the Canadian government. Following the crash, the US and Canada sent out overflights to find the debris in an area totaling 48,000 square miles, but only 0.1 percent of the hazardous fuel was ever recovered.

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