Watch: Tiangong-1 space lab broke up over South Pacific: China

China said today its space lab named Tiangong-1 broke up into pieces as it headed towards Earth in the South Pacific.

The eight-tonne Tiangong-1 "mostly" burnt up above the vast ocean's central region at 8:15 am (0015 GMT), China's Manned Space Engineering Office said.

China had earlier predicted the space lab would re-entry over the Atlantic.

In the past week, speculation has been growing over the fate of the space lab.  Tiangong-1 which in Mandarin means "Heavenly Palace” has been out of China's communication radar since 2017.

The space lab was originally planned to be decommissioned in 2013 but its mission was repeatedly extended. 

China had said last year that its reentry would be delayed leading several experts to speculate that it had lost control of the space lab.

It is still unknown whether the debris from the space lab has entered the Earth's atmosphere.