Why did the alien ship crash?
The erratic, wobbling motions of the saucer ship suggest that something was seriously wrong with the vessel. What exactly that was, we never get to see but mechanical or structural failure seems to be safely ruled out. There was, for instance, no indication of any external damage to the ship like you would expect to see from a collision or onboard explosion. Also, the crafts engines seemed to be in fine working order. Ruling out these sorts of possibilities leaves us with just one option: the problem was with those who operated the craft. One popular suggestion is that the crew was locked in a death struggle with the Thing and that this ultimately brought the ship down into the Antarctic ice. Perhaps the crew were even purposefully trying to destroy their own ship when it became clear they could not win against the Thing. Or perhaps the Thing had killed the crew without having assimilated the ships pilots so that it didnt know how to adequately steer the vessel. Or maybe it was nothing
