Debris from a massive Chinese rocket that was spiraling down towards Earth re-entered the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean at about 2.45am (AEST) on Sunday, the US Space Command said in Twitter. China’s 23-ton Long March 5B rocket, which delivered a new module to its space station, lifted off from Hainan Island at 14:22 (local time) on Sunday, July 24, and the module docked successfully in China’s orbital outpost.
Since then, the rocket had been in an uncontrolled descent into Earth’s atmosphere, the third time China has been accused of failing to properly handle space debris from its rocket stage.
Video posted on social media appears to show remnants of Chinese rockets burning up in the atmosphere over Malaysia. (Twitter/@juuulan_/Vanessa Julan)
“No other country leaves these 20-ton things in orbit to re-enter in an uncontrolled manner,” Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told CNN’s Jim Acosta on Saturday afternoon.
In a statement on Twitter, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson wrote that China “did not share specific trajectory information” when the rocket fell back to Earth.
“All spacefaring nations should follow established best practices and do their part to share this type of information in advance to enable reliable predictions of the potential risk of debris impact, especially for transport vehicles heavy, such as the Long March 5B, which carries a significant risk of loss of life and property,” Nelson said.
The 23-ton Chinese Long March 5B rocket lifted off last Sunday. (Images by Liu Huaiyu/FCHINA/AP)
“Doing so is critical to the responsible use of space and to ensuring the safety of people here on Earth,” he added.
In a statement, China’s Manned Space Agency said the rocket’s debris re-entered the atmosphere at around 12:55 p.m. Sunday Beijing time, around 2:55 a.m. (AEST) .
The agency added most of the burned remains during the re-entry process to the Sulu Sea, which lies between the island of Borneo and the Philippines.
“What we really want to know is if any pieces ended up sitting on the ground,” McDowell told CNN.
“This may take a little longer for the reports to filter through again.”
Video posted online appears to show what experts believe are images of the rocket’s propellant burning in the atmosphere, but CNN cannot confirm its veracity.
Vanessa Julan, a resident of Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, shared a video with CNN showing what appears to be burning rocket debris.
He told CNN he shot the footage at around 2:50am (AEST).
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