The first Iridium telecommunications satellite to reenter the atmosphere broke up over the Arctic Ocean early Wednesday.

The non-operational satellite reentered at 4:44 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (09:44 GMT), said Master Sgt. Larry Lincoln, of the United States Space Command, which tracks about 8,000 artificial objects orbiting the Earth, including spacecraft, satellites, rocket bodies and debris.

"The satellite was not designed to survive reentry intact and was expected to mostly burn up in the atmosphere," Lincoln said.

The satellite was launched September 8, 1998, but failed and was reported tumbling out of control just two months later.

A second Iridium satellite is expected to reenter the atmosphere no later than December 17.

As for the Chicken Littles of the world, they need not worry.

Although the Iridium constellation will lose a few more satellites that are tumbling in orbit, the roughly 70 remaining operational birds have found their savior.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved Iridium Satellite LLC’s bargain-basement $25 million bid to purchase the operating assets of Iridium LLC and its subsidiaries.