China's Tiangong-1 space station set to crash on Earth Monday April 02,2018

Tiangong-1, China's defunct space laboratory, will make an uncontrolled re-entry into Earth's atmosphere within the 24 hours, according to Chinese officials.

China's first space station, the Tiangong-1, will come crashing back to Earth around midnight on Sunday, Chinese authorities have said.

Launched in 2011, the abandoned craft has been slowly descending towards Earth's atmosphere after China lost control of it in 2016.

The unoccupied station is 12 metres long, has a diameter of 3.3 metres and weighs 8,500kg.

It was supposed to be decommissioned in 2013 after a two-year mission, but China's space agency extended its mission several times.

During re-entry, its speed will approach 26,000 kilometres an hour, which will most likely lead most of it to burn up. Large pieces are not expected to hit the Earth, and it will probably cause a meteor shower during its descent.

The exact area where Tiangong-1 will crash is unknown, as it is dependent on many factors.

It is expected to come to Earth somewhere between 43 degrees North and 43 degrees South, a range covering most of the United States, China, Africa, southern Europe, Australia and South America.

Out of range are Russia, Canada and northern Europe.