NASA slams China after massive rocket booster plummets back to Earth and risked ‘loss of life’
Jenny Goldsberry
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A Chinese rocket that launched Oct. 25 has re-entered the atmosphere risking collision as it fell.
U.S. Space Command confirmed that the Long March 5B rocket fell back to Earth in two separate parts into the Pacific Ocean early Friday morning. The center called it an “uncontrolled impact” in advisory tweets.
“[The People’s Republic of China] did not share specific trajectory information, which is needed to predict landing zones and reduce risk. This is the PRC’s fourth uncontrolled re-entry since May 2020, and each of these re-entries have been the largest in last 30 years,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement. “It is critical that all spacefaring nations are responsible and transparent in their space activities and follow established best practices, especially, for the uncontrolled re-entry of a large rocket body debris – debris that could very well result in major damage or loss of life.”
SPACE COMMAND CONFIRMS CHINESE ROCKET DEBRIS FELL INTO INDIAN OCEAN
https://twitter.com/US_SpaceCom/status/1588502881631887361
The rocket left from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in south China’s Hainan Province. It was carrying the space lab module Mengtian at the time.
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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 also ending up in the Indian Ocean and another rocket in 2020 falling into the Atlantic Ocean.