China’s uncontrolled Long March 5B rocket entered Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean and crashed near the island of Borneo. The US Space Command has confirmed the rocket’s re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, but where exactly the debris landed remains unclear.
Parts of the rocket crashed near the island of Borneo
On July 24, China used a Long March 5B rocket to launch a laboratory module to the unfinished Tiangong space station. Weighing more than 22 tons, the rocket returned to Earth orbit for a while after losing control and then crashed to Earth. While estimates consider the rocket to land anywhere from Mexico to the southern tip of Africa, uncertainty remains about where the rocket will land. This marks China’s third uncontrolled descent.
NASA studies the formation of ice crystals
Malaysian users on Twitter have caught the rocket’s apparent re-entry, and some believe it’s a meteor. NASA administrator Bill Nelson responded to the uncontrolled landing on Twitter. Nelson said, “The People’s Republic of China has not shared specific trajectory information as the Long March 5B rocket crashed back to Earth. All countries engaged in space travel should follow established best practices, and particularly for heavy-lift vehicles such as the Long March 5B, which poses a significant risk of potential debris collision. should do its part to share such information in advance to allow reliable estimates of risk.” said.
Unfortunately, this rocket isn’t the last runaway rocket to land on Earth. China plans to launch its third and final module to Tiangong using the Long March 5B in October and will use the rocket once again to bring a telescope into space in 2023.
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