(1) Tom Phillips and Bonnie Malkin, China's Tiangong-1 space station 'out of control' and will crash to Earth; Chinese authorities confirm the eight-tonne 'Heavenly Palace' lab will re-enter the atmosphere sometime in 2017 with some parts likely to hit Earth, The Guardian, Sept 20, 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/scie ... trol-crash-to-earth
three consecutive paragraphs:
"The [武平's Sept 14, 2016] announcement appeared to confirm months of speculation that China had lost control of the 10.4m-long module after it suffered some kind of technical or mechanical failure.
"Jonathan McDowell, renowned Harvard astrophysicist and space industry enthusiast, said the announcement suggested China had lost control of the station and that it would re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere “naturally.”
"If this is the case, it would be impossible to predict where the debris from the space station will land [because it is out of control].
My comment:
(a) In the title, although "out of control" is within quotation marks, the text does not say who said it. Rather, the text uses "lost control."
(b) I clicked "months of speculation" and eventually traced its origin to (4) below.
(2) "9月15日22时04分，搭载着天宫二号空间实验室的长征二号FT2运载火箭在酒泉卫星发射中心点火发射。" It was successful.
(4) Leonard David, When Will China's 'Heavenly Palace' Space Lab Fall Back to Earth? Space.com, June 10, 2016 (column). http://www.space.com/33140-china ... lling-to-earth.html
(" 'If I am right, China will wait until the last minute to let the world know it has a problem with their space station,' [Thomas] Dorman[, an amateur satellite tracker,] told Space.com"