Debris falling over Japan from Chinese rocket launched last year: Report
Jenny Goldsberry
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Rocket debris fell over Japan Wednesday night in another show of China’s increasing space presence.
Video footage emerged on social media depicting what many thought was a meteorite falling over Okinawa, Japan. Since then, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan’s Ishigaki branch confirmed to the Japan Times that it was debris.
“The slow speed and the way the light moved — threads of lights moving in parallel — looked exactly like the atmospheric entry of debris from a rocket,” a NAOJ official said on condition of anonymity. “It is possible that [it was] debris from a rocket that was launched by China in November.”
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This official was likely referring to when the manned spaceship Shenzhou 15, atop the Long March-2F Y15 carrier rocket, launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China on Tuesday, Nov. 29, as it carried three astronauts sent to finish building China’s permanent orbiting space station. State-owned Xinhua News Agency captured the launch in photos at the time.
On Wednesday, Xinhua reported a “reusable experimental spacecraft” landed in northwest China after “276 days of in-orbit operation.” The mission was described as an “important breakthrough in China’s research on reusable spacecraft technologies.” The spacecraft used was likely another Long March 2F rocket, which meant the craft could not have exceeded 8 tons.
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Another instance of falling Chinese rocket debris came immediately following the November launch. U.S. Space Command warned at the time that uncontrolled reentries such as those attempted by China would result “in loss of life.” Spanish flights were grounded to avoid the debris.
In July, China successfully docked its Wentian space station module after the 21-ton Long March 5B rocket sent it to space, marking the third time China has sent rocket debris free-falling down to Earth, with one rocket in 2021 ending up in the Indian Ocean and another rocket in 2020 falling into the Atlantic Ocean.