Uncontrolled debris from a Chinese rocket could come crashing back to Earth as soon as Saturday, according to The Aerospace Corporation, a federally-funded space research center that tracks orbital debris reentry.

China launched a new laboratory module called the Wentian for its Tiangong space station from Hainan Island in the South China Sea earlier this week. The rocket carrying the module, the Long March 5B, will make an uncontrolled reentry.

This isn't the first time rocket debris from China's space program has plunged through the atmosphere with an air of suspense.

In May 2021, the world watched with uncertainty as it tried to determine where the remains of a rocket of the same class carrying the initial module for the Tiangong space station would crash.

After days of tense monitoring by scientists and various agencies, including United States Space Command, the rocket reentered the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.

Now, a replica situation is at hand.

The rocket, China's largest, measures roughly 175 feet and weighs 23 metric tons, according to the Aerospace Corporation. It is much too early to tell exactly where it will fall.